http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2009/02/kicker_mike_nugent_declines_of.html Kicker Mike Nugent declines offer from New York Jets, will test free-agent market by Dave Hutchinson/The Star-Ledger Wednesday February 25, 2009, 1:00 AM Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger Mike Nugent says he feels like it might be time to move on from the Jets. Kicker Mike Nugent has declined an offer from the Jets to return and will test the free-agent market, The Star-Ledger has learned. Nugent suffered a strained right quadriceps in the 2008 season opener against the Miami Dolphins and was replaced by veteran Jay Feely for the rest of the season. Nugent was in the final year of his contract and will become an unrestricted free agent. The Jets had been facing a tough decision on whether to keep Nugent or Feely, and probably couldn't go wrong with either one. Now Nugent has made the decision for them. "The Jets have been really cool about the situation and gave me time to decide whether to stay," Nugent told The Star-Ledger in response to an e-mail Tuesday. "They approached us last week to re-sign, and also called again this week, and gave us a chance to talk about making a decision. "I have so much respect for the organization and my teammates, but I feel it might be time for me to move on. (General manager) Mike (Tannenbaum), (director of football operations) Ari (Nissim) and the coaches have been incredibly understanding of my decision process and I am really grateful to them." Feely, who is also an unrestricted free agent, is expected to sign a two- or three-year deal to replace Nugent. Last season, Feely, an eight-year veteran and former Giant, converted 24 of 28 attempts, including his last 14 in a row. Nugent, a second-round pick in 2005 out of Ohio State, is the top kicker on the free-agent market now that the Titans' Rob Bironas has re-signed with Tennessee. Nugent, who attempted only one field goal last season and was injured at the time, hit 75 of 91 career field-goal attempts (82.4 percent) during his three healthy seasons with the Jets. His 308 points rank fourth in team history among kickers. He hit 19 consecutive field goals over the 2006-2007 seasons, the second-longest streak in team history behind Pat Leahy (22). Last season, Nugent was injured on the opening kickoff against the Dolphins and kicked two extra points. He attempted and missed a 3-yard field goal despite being injured because the Jets had no one else to kick. He didn't play again, although he was healthy by Week 10 because Feely kicked so well. The Jets will be roughly $27 million under the salary cap, not $37 million, when TE Chris Baker ($2 million saving) and RG Brandon Moore ($7 million) come off the books. A recent nationalfootballpost.com report that the Jets recently reworked the contracts of S Kerry Rhodes ($4.9 million savings) and LB Calvin Pace ($4.7 million) actually occurred last month and had already been factored into the Jets' cap standing. That figure isn't official because the Jets have players who reached incentives last season and that money will be subtracted from their 2009 cap. ---- We never should have drafted the kid so high but I do think he is a fine kicker and would have liked to see him back. Feely will be just fine though as it stands.
Nugent is an average kicker, def not worth a 2nd round pick, and my only memories of him seem to be missed kicks. So long buddy... Feeley will be fine.
Couldnt care less...Im surprised we even gave him an offer, but im sure it was a shitty one year contract with very little guaranteed money that gave him the opportunity to compete for the job.
Another in a long line of disapointing high draft picks by this franchise...... it's kind of sad that Sperm and Badway really though Doug Brien was the only reason they didn't win the Super Bowl that year. I will be curious to see how this kid kicks now that he isn't playing in the Meadowlands 8 times a year. My bet is that New Orleans makes a push for him. They can't possibly be satisfied with Martin Gramatica.......
He never lived up to expectations. I Rather go with Feely then him even if he came back for half the pay. Good Riddance Nuge.
I liked Nugent, but we'll be fine without him. Looks like we only have two ohio state players on the team now.
I really did think Nugent was going to be good, but like Ben Graham, he seemed to get worse instead of improving. He turned out to be very average. When he was a rookie, he never did hit the end zone, but his hang times were very long. As time went on, the distance stayed the same and the hang time went down. Then he started kicking the ball out of bounds trying to make up for the lost hang time by angling his KO's. He seems like a good kid... hope things go well for him.
Not really to big of a deal. Feely actually made a game winning kick against the PATS. That's good enough for me
The Doug Jolly trade of our first allowed us to use an extra 2nd day pick to move down and take Rhodes in the 4th. Miller, Jolley and Nuge the other parts of that trade are all gone. We essentially gave up a first to move down a couple of spots in the 4th round of that draft. We could have reached and taken Rhodes with our original third and had a first and second that year to use on real players instead of a kicker and a malcontent with no real technique to play the postition.
I don't like this move, always liked Nugent, feel he's a much better option than feely. Hoping we don't regret this move. Another one of the my jets jerseys is now nil again.
This in no way guarantees that Feely will be the kicker. We don't have any idea what they offered Nugent but the very fact they made any offer at all means they aren't all that enamored with Feely either.
What kicker would want to kick in the Meadowlands? Nugent did well at OSU...cause the outdoor conditions are ideal. ......hardly a wind issue at OSU. I've been to many games at both venues.....the wind at The Meadowlamds vs. The Horseshoe is day and night. Nugent is no big loss, Feeley will be OK.
