Jets Release Ben Graham Again
ESPN is reporting that the Jets have released Ben Graham again after his replacement work for the injured Reggie Hodges. This move now brings the active roster’s kicking specialists down to three, with Nugent still sidelined and Jay Feely kicking proxy. Although Graham had some good distance on his few punts in the past two weeks, but Mangini seemed more concerned with the hang-time and coverage associated with on his punts.
“Our net [average] was very good, the gross wasn’t bad, but it’s more difficult to cover those punts without the hang time. You want to have the combination of the two … like I said when we signed Hodges, we liked him … we liked the things that he did here. It’s unfortunate, sort of his early stages there, not being able to have an opportunity. So, I want to give him that opportunity.”
With the extra roster spot, the Jets also brought back offensive lineman Will Montgomery (who I believe is the team’s backup center) to the active roster and released wide receiver Paul Raymond from the practice squad.
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Has anyone heard anything on Nugent, as far as how much longer he will be out? Feely really scares me when he is out there.
Releasing Raymond is interesting. Is there any word on Clowney? I had read (maybe here) that he may be back after the bye?
this guy better be the next reggie roby.
i cant wait till nugent is healthy so he can lose his job all over again and ultimately get released and the nwe can have a roster spot for marcus henry available , no but seriously i think the injury is gonna be a humbling experience for this guy and he will finally play like a 2nd round K
Who’s getting cut when Chatman comes back? His suspension is over.
Good question vbsiena, as Mangini alluded to that in his press conference yesterday as a “difficult decision” for the upcoming week. We likely won’t see the change until 1 week from now. My guess is Ahmad Carroll gets cut now that Poteat is back.
If Nugent is good to go, it’ll be Feely that gets cut for Chatman.
Lets get back down to two kickers! Whoo. I love the bye.
Well this move didn’t exactly shocked me, when the Jets still had Hodges on the roster I knew that at some point Ben would be released but still this is just getting annoying now, if the Jets can’t find a good kicker then they better get used to converting for 2 points.
If the Giants do release John Carney when Tynes returns (which would be stupid on their part) the Jets might want to factor in Carney because I can’t see either Nugent or Feely being the “kicker of the future” besides Nugent wasn’t very good to begin with and Feely can barley make a short FG let alone a long one like he attempted Sunday…
As for punter all I can say is Hodges better be as good as everyone is claiming.
RS-
Couldn’t agree more. But how good can a guy be who couldn’t latch on for 3 years. Hard to believe. As for Nugent, maybe I watch a different Jets game than all these guys that love him. He is barely average in FG’s and his kickoffs are just not good enough-PERIOD.
But the staff loves him.
There are much worse kickers in the league then Nugent. Much worse. If we cut him he will have a job in a week. Much faster than say Marcus Henry or Kenwin Cummings.
Green-
He is average, not the absolute worst, but his kickoffs are not good enough.
This is not about him versus Feely (but Feely is no worse). The staff should have dealt with him and graham in the offseason. There are hundreds of guys to look at out there but not during the season unless you absolutely have to.
I hope Hodges is good but I have hard time believing it.
jas,
You gota be fair and say that he made around 20 field goals in a row at 1 point. Plus, i cant remember the last time Nugent lost us a game…
Nugent is 8th on the alltime list in FG%. Ahead of some very surprising names. Look it up. Agree that his kickoffs are lacking. They will stick with Nugent.
I’m just saying the guy has never missed a clutch kick. He can nail over a 50 yarder (he can blow them too) and he has over an 80% career average. Not bad considering the winds of the Meadowlands. A place where a lot of kickers have terrible averages at (Ask David Akers). Plus his onside kicks are finess. Feely wasn’t trying to kick it deep either. Maybe it really is scheme? Also Feely is worse. He got cut in one day from KC for a reason and has missed two really short kicks. If they find a better kicker then great, but they haven’t and he understands Westhoff’s scheme for those reasons dumping him would be idiotic.
Though he still is a kicker and it wouldn’t eb teh end of days to lose him.
najy-
1-at 4-12 there were no games to lose. He did miss in the good ole herm days.
2-How about this -has he ever won us a game. does the staff say lets just get close enough (50ish) and let him win it-NO.
He’s ok, but just average if you look at all the stats. If the staff only lets him kick from 35 in then I’m sure he looks good.
How come the JETS can cut ben graham after 2 games but couldn’t waive hodges?? Can anyone explain this to me?
The only game deciding kick he missed was the NO one in 2005 which was a 52 yarder that fell just short and ended up being the difference between the 4th and 8th (?) pick.
He kicked game winners against Miami, KC and Pittsburgh over the last few years and also had a key 56 yarder before HT in a game the Jets eventually won by 3 in 2006.
His kickoffs are not great. That much is true. And he does have a tendency to get off to a slow start. Hopefully, when he returns he will be in mid-season form, not early season form.
Feely has been awful, but hasn’t killed us, so maybe we spend too much time worrying about the kicker!
During the pre-season practices, Ben Graham was kicking the ball with authority. My son and I were amazed at his kicking displays. This was just one month ago. When he had competition, he out-kicked his competition on just about every kick. What happened to him? Why can’t they help him through his problem? I believe his net yardage is almost ten yards more than Hodges. I hate to blame this on coaching but, they should also have been working with him, on angling his punts towards the corner of the end-zone. I never saw that happening, during practice.
Ed-
because the brilliant mgmt claimed him off of a practice squad not as a free agent-3 wk minimum. The Pats no less. Beli must have been laughing his ass off.
Bent-thanks for the data. He still doesn’t seem to be anything special. Personally, I agree with Parcells. Unless they are really special they are just kickers and interchangeable. But, did we really need 4 or 5 of them!
Harvlis-Go ahead blame the coaches. They should fix this stuff or get a better guy. doesn’t seem that complicated.
Broken record
Mangini likes the distance on KOs. He wants returns, not TBs. They’ve been very good in the past, though not so far this year, in this regard.
billvv-
I posted that a week or so ago. Why does M feel that way? If there’s a touchback you are guaranteed no runback, no TD and a start at their 20. If you kick to the 5 or 10 you mostly get starts from the 20 to the 30 and of course the occasional disaster-that just can’t be better. I think they have nugent who kicks to the 5-10 and so rather poor mouth him they say they like it that way. It is what it is.
And remember that we lost to the Pats “because of field position” starting on our 20. Can’t have it both ways.
Green-
Not a broken record just badly scratched.
The thinking (ascribed to Mangini, though I’ve only heard it here secondhand) is that the kickoff in play presents a turnover possibility.
I’d like to see data on both approaches but my gut leans toward touchbacks.
We lost the field position battle greatly due to Graham’s inability to punt. The kicking strategy of avoiding the touch back isn’t so huge.
Any idea who the new holder will be?
I miss Marcus Henry and Kenwin Cummings. Imagine how great this team would be if we still had those guys? ( sic )
:-)
jas,
He is not worth a 2nd round pick but he gets the job done. I dont have complaints with Nuge.
He did have an issue in 06 on kick offs. He rarely had any touchbacks but he improved his leg strength last year. Again, he has not lost as any games.. ahem ahem… Doug Brian.
Najy-
I don’t disagree. I’ve never said get rid of him. He’s average. Other posters keep saying cut him or get rid of feely. i really don’t care either way. my problem was all the kickers on the roster along with 4 QB’s.
Jas,
Nugent ranks eighth iin the league out of the 32 teams. That is pretty darn good. cut him, and he will have a job within 48 hours.