The Facts: The San Diego Chargers place kicker Nate Kaeding on season-ending injured reserve with a groin injury. The roster move was made to make room for wide receiver Danario Alexander, who signed with the team on Monday. Teams are not permitted to release an injured player, so Kaeding will stay on IR until healthy and then the Chargers will waive him. Kaeding's 2011 season came to a premature end on opening day when he tore his left ACL. He was 7-for-7 in field goal attempts in 2012 before injuring his groin.
Diehards Line:We were somewhat surprised the Chargers decided to part ways with Kaeding, the NFL's most-accurate regular season kicker of all time (.865). By all accounts, he was close to returning from the groin injury, possibly after the team's Week 7 bye. Most expected San Diego to release Nick Novak to open up a roster spot for Alexander. We have to assume the team was happy enough with Novak's performance to IR Kaeding in lieu of using two roster spots on place kickers. Kaeding should have little trouble finding work with another team when he is healthy.