Bill Belichick reveals why the Patriots signed Mike Nugent
"Mike's got a lot of experience, we felt like he was the best option."
The kicker position has been a reliable component for the Patriots throughout the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era.
First, it was future Hall of Famer Adam Vinatieri providing numerous clutch kicks en route to helping the Patriots capture three Super Bowl titles in the early 2000s.
Then, Stephen Gostkowski established himself as one of the best kickers in the NFL since entering the league in 2006.
Aside from 2010, when Gostkowski missed eight games with a leg injury and Shayne Graham stepped in, the Patriots have had two kickers, Vinatieri and Gostkowski, in 20 seasons under Belichick, a rarity in the NFL.
But that changed Wednesday when Gostkowski was placed on injured reserve, set to miss the rest of the season with a hip injury.
After holding tryouts Wednesday afternoon, veteran kicker Mike Nugent beat out Kai Forbath, Josh Gable, and Younghoe Koo for the position.
During Friday’s press conference, Belichick provided details on what went into the decision of choosing Nugent.
“Mike’s got a lot of experience, we felt like he was the best option,” Belichick said. “Just seeing where the player is currently, but the past has some relevance too. It’s a combination, but it would be hard to sign somebody at that position that didn’t kick well in a workout. There’d have to be a lot of other things in place that would override that, I would think.”
Nugent is 13-30 (43.3%) on kicks from 50 plus yards in his 14-year career, but Belichick downplayed any concerns of Nugent’s long-range kicking.
“I think we’ll have a pretty good idea what his range is,” Belichick said. “It’s been about the same since he’s been in the league. We’ve, again, played against him, so defensively on our field goal block and defensive strategy we’ve had to kind of know what that is. I don’t think it’s like 15 or 20 yards different from what it’s been.”
Belichick was also asked by reporters if Nugent’s experience of kicking in cold places like Cincinnati and New York will help him in Foxboro later in the year. Belichick responded, “We’re just worried about this week right now. We’ll worry about December in December, but it doesn’t hurt that he’s done that.”
The stability of the Patriots kicking unit will now be tested with Gostkowski out, but Belichick reiterated Friday that he has confidence in Nugent.
“Look, through the years I’ve been lucky,” Belichick said. “We have had a lot of stability. There’s no doubt about that. But look, sometimes things happen and you have to make changes like you do at any other position. You do the best you can. Steve Gostkowski’s one of the greatest kickers of all time. He’s been great for this franchise. Unfortunately, he’s not available so we’ll move on. Mike [Nugent’s] done a good job. He has a lot of experience. Obviously, we have confidence in Mike or we wouldn’t have signed him.”
Long snapper Joe Cardona calls new kicker Mike Nugent a complete professional, and says the goal now is to build chemistry — fast. pic.twitter.com/khalf7gJZX
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 3, 2019
The Patriots officially announced Friday that Koo, a second-year kicker from South Korea, was named to the practice squad. Koo played in four games with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2017 and was 3-6 on field goals.
“Just a player we wanted to look at that’s practice squad eligible,” Belichick said of Koo. “There’s a lot of players you want to look at but they’re not eligible for the practice squad. You’d have to put them on the roster if you want to see them, so it gives us a chance to see him on a practice squad situation. We’ll see how it goes. He doesn’t have a lot of experience.”
The Patriots play in Washington against the Redskins on Sunday at 1 p.m.
