San Diego Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith continues to solidify the long-term strength of the team?s roster. Today Smith and the Chargers signed kicker Nate Kaeding to a new six-year contract extension that runs through the 2012 season. The young kicker?s previous contract was due to expire following this season, which would have made him a restricted free agent. ?Nate is a very talented player who has been very productive for us in his young career,? Smith said. ?This extension adds to our commitment to solidify what we believe is an outstanding special teams unit for years to come.? Last year the team signed Kaeding?s special teams partner, punter Mike Scifres, to an extension through the 2011 season. Kaeding is in the midst of a perfect season. He has hit all six of his field goal attempts and all seven of his PAT attempts. Since being drafted in the third round in ?04, he has been successful on 85.5 percent of his field goal attempts, hitting 47 of 55 kicks. He has made his last 13 field goals in a row and has a string of 78 consecutive PATs. The team record is 87 straight PATs set by Rolf Benirschke in 1983-86. ?It?s exciting,? Kaeding said. ?It happened pretty fast. We had the bye week, so it was important to get it through and get it done before the ball started flying. I was very happy with the speed (of negotiations) and the end result. It gives you the kind of security you look for, especially being here in this organization with these guys that I came in with. I couldn?t ask for anything better. ?I really felt confident coming into last year. I put together a really good year. I was hitting the ball as well as I ever have during this past offseason. It?s carried over into this season. I?m looking forward to doing it for 14 more weeks and, with this team, continuing it into the playoffs.