Jets coach Eric Mangini has said he’ll hold an open competition for every position at training camp: Rookie quarterback Kellen Clemens could unseat incumbent starter Chad Pennington, second-year running back Cedric Houston will vie for playing time with veteran Curtis Martin, and almost every spot on the new 3–4 defense is up for grabs.

But on special teams the Jets seem relatively secure, with no major personnel issues and no training camp competitions. Mike Nugent is the only kicker in camp and Ben Graham is the only punter. Graham and Nugent were both brought in last year to improve the kicking game, but in their background and their first-season performance, they couldn’t be more different.

Graham joined the Jets as a 32-year-old rookie free agent after a long career as an Australian Rules football player. Despite playing the American version of the game for the first time in his life last year, Graham had a very good rookie season and did everything the Jets could have expected of him. He showed off a strong leg, averaging 43.7 yards a punt, and also showed an impressive ability to put touch on the ball, having 18 punts downed inside the 20-yard line while only allowing six punts to roll into the end zone for touchbacks.

The Jets rewarded Graham with a long-term contract extension, and there’s no reason he shouldn’t be the Jets’ punter for several years. In fact, his success may have paved the way for more Australian footballers who want to migrate to the NFL. Sav Rocca, a forward for the Australian Kangaroos Football Club, told the Melbourne Herald Sun yesterday that a couple of NFL teams have expressed interest in bringing him to America.

The Jets were widely praised for having the scouting presence to find Graham in Australia, but they were also widely criticized for using a high draft choice on Nugent. As a secondround pick in last year’s draft, Nugent was the highest draft choice of any kicker in the last six years. The Jets showed a lot of faith in Nugent by using such a high choice on him, but he didn’t deliver, failing to show off the leg strength that made him an All-American at Ohio State. He attempted two field goals of more than 50 yards and missed them both, and he managed only one touchback on his 63 kickoffs.

The differences between kicking in the NFL and kicking in college are subtle, but they seem to have affected Nugent significantly. NFL kickers are forced to use brand-new footballs, straight from the Wilson Sporting Goods factory, which tend to be hard and slippery. College kickers are allowed to break in the footballs before using them in a game. The NFL also mandates that kickers use one-inch tees on kickoffs, whereas Nugent was permitted to use a two-inch tee in college. (The NCAA has changed its rules and will require one-inch tees beginning this season.)

Whatever the reason for Nugent’s sub-par rookie performance, it was disappointing enough that most teams would have brought in a veteran kicker to push him in training camp. Instead, the Jets gave rookie kicker D.J. Fitzpatrick of Notre Dame a brief look, then released him this week. At this point, even if the Jets want to find someone to compete with Nugent, nearly all of the competent kickers in pro football are on another team’s training camp roster. That makes it unlikely that the Jets will bring in anyone else, so for better or worse, Nugent has the job.

Having only one kicker in camp is a rare practice in the NFL. The Arizona Cardinals have Neil Rackers, the best kicker in the NFL last year, but they still invited another kicker, Nick Novak, to camp.Teams with Pro Bowl kickers usually think it’s worthwhile to bring in someone else to compete, if for no other reason than to put some pressure on the player who will be expected to perform under pressure during the regular season.

It’s unclear why the Jets want to give Nugent the job without a fight. One possibility is that Mike Tannenbaum, who was the Jets’ assistant general manager during the 2005 draft before being promoted to general manager this year, pushed hard for Nugent in the war room and still wants him around. Teams never disclose the inner workings of their draft rooms, but if Tannenbaum saw promise in Nugent in 2005, he may want to give him another chance in 2006. It’s also possible that neither Tannenbaum nor Mangini is thrilled with Nugent, but they think that after the team spent a second-round pick on him, they have little choice but to keep him around for at least one more year. Teams rarely cut a second-round pick after only one season.

Whatever the reason for the Jets’ confidence in Nugent, it only takes a couple of missed kicks to shake that confidence. The Jets hope Nugent can get on track during the exhibition season. But even if he doesn’t, they have no other options on the horizon for the regular season.

Mr. Smith is a contributing editor for footballoutsiders.com.