Raiders Waive K Giorgio Tavecchio, Sign K Mike Nugent

Michael Gehlken reports that the Raiders are waiving K Giorgio Tavecchio and signing veteran K Mike Nugent to a contract.

This move leaves undrafted rookie K Eddy Pineiro in the driver’s seat to win the kicking jump.

Tavecchio, 28, originally signed on with the 49ers as an undrafted free agent out of California back in 2012. He was unable to make the team’s 53-man roster and was released at the start of the season.

The Raiders later claimed him off of waivers in 2014 and he’s been on and off of their roster the past few years. Oakland cut him loose as they trimmed their roster down to 53 players, but signed him to the practice squad shortly after.

Tavecchio was promoted to the active roster in September after veteran K Sebastian Janikowski was placed on injured reserve and they brought him back on an exclusive rights contract this offseason.

In 2017, Tavecchio appeared in all 16 games for the Raiders and converted 16 of 21 field goal attempts (76.2 percent) to go along with 33 of 34 extra point attempts.

Nugent, 36, is a former second-round pick of the Jets back in 2005. He has spent the past six seasons with the Bengals but has really struggled this year.

Nugent was in the final year of his two-year, $3.5 million contract and set to make a base salary of $1.2 million for the 2016 season when the Bengals cut him loose in December of 2016.

The Giants signed Nugent to a contract during the season but he was cut loose soon after and caught on with the Bears.

In 2017, Nugent appeared in eight games and converted 11 of 13 field goal attempts and 15 of 17 extra point tries.