The Facts: The Giants are going to have a kicking competition after all. Nugent, a 13-year veteran who has played in 158 regular-season and postseason games, was signed by the team today.
Diehards Line:
He will vie for the job with Aldrick Rosas, who has never played in a regular-season game but had been the only kicker on the Giants’ roster. Nugent, 35, has played for the Jets, Tampa Bay, Arizona, and for the previous seven seasons, the Cincinnati Bengals. He has made 236 of 292 field goal attempts (80.8%) and 344 of 355 extra point tries for 1,052. That ties him with Nick Folk and Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith for 50th on the NFL’s career list. Nugent has scored more than 100 points in a season six times, including a career-high 132 in 2011. He has made 11 of 28 field goal attempts (39.3%) from 50 or more yards. Nugent has had touchbacks on 30.1 percent of his kickoffs (217 of 720). Rosas was in the Tennessee Titan’s training camp last year, when he made his only field goal attempt, from 33 yards. He played one season at Southern Oregon, where he made 16 of 21 field goal attempts, with a long of 48 yards.