After 17 seasons featuring the same kicker, the Raiders are pivoting to a third in the past two years.
While Mike Nugent battles a hip injury, the Raiders are adding another leg in rookie UDFA Matt McCrane, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. McCrane went to camp with the Cardinals this year.
Nugent was only added after Oakland opted to cut Giorgio Tavecchio, its 2017 kicker. Tavecchio was also on the list of specialists the Raiders auditioned on Tuesday, with Sirius XM Radio’s Adam Caplan reporting (via Twitter) Tavecchio joined McCrane, Michael Badgley, Jon Brown and Trevor Moore.
Nugent suffered a hip malady in the Raiders’ loss to the Dolphins on Sunday. He remains on the Raiders’ roster, giving them a two-kicker setup going into Week 4. The Raiders used Tavecchio last season and Nugent for the first three games of this one, after Nugent beat out rookie UDFA Joel Pineiro for the job. Prior to that, Sebastian Janikowski served as the Raiders’ kicker from 2000-16.
A Kansas State product, McCrane spent four seasons as the primary kicker for the Big 12 program. He made 57 of his 66 career kicks — by the end of his sophomore season he’d made 25 of 26 kicks — and earned an invitation to the East-West Shrine Game. He could not beat out Phil Dawson for the Cardinals’ kicking job in camp.
Joel Pineiro used to pitch in the majors; Eddy Pineiro is the kicker
I was gonna say solid back end finesse arm, especially on the west coast
Does he provide a good pass rush?