On a day that we’d expect to be all-draft, all the time (with a little Ben Roethlisberger mixed in), we’ve actually got a free agent signing to pass along: The Cincinnati Bengals have signed free agent kicker Mike Nugent.
The signing is something of a homecoming for Nugent, who’s from Centerville, Ohio and went to Ohio State.
The Jets’ second-round pick in the 2005 NFL draft, Nugent suffered a quadricep injury in the first game of the 2008 season that ended his tenure in New York, and he bounced around the league with the Buccaneers and Cardinals in 2009.
In Cincinnati he’ll compete with Dave Rayner, the other kicker on the Bengals’ roster. Bengals special teams coach Darrin Simmons says he’s high on Nugent.
“This is a guy that was highly regarded coming out in the draft,” Simmons told Bengals.com, “and if we can get him back where he was before the injury, he’s a very interesting guy.”
