It’s all over for Cody Parkey:
The #Bears have decided to release K Cody Parkey at the start of the league year, sources say. A fresh start is welcomed by both parties, and the Pro Bowler will likely find work quickly. He’s still due $3.5M guaranteed on his 2019 contract.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 22, 2019
NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport reports the Chicago Bears are releasing their kicker at the start of the league’s new year. Parkey will still receive the remaining $3.5 million in guarantees on his contract, but this release is obviously about more than money.
Rapoport views it as a clean start for a team whose season ended on a double-doinked field goal that would have sent the Bears to the next round of the playoffs, as well as Parkey, who had some solid years in Cleveland and Miami before ultimately faltering in Chicago.
In case you forgot (you didn’t): Parkey missed a total of 10 kicks (7 field goals, 3 extra-points) during a tumultuous 2018 regular season. And even though he made his first three tries in the Bears’ playoff game against the Eagles on Wild-Card Sunday, his season-ending misfire was ultimately the straw that broke the camel’s back and put an end to his tenure with the Bears.
By parting ways with Parkey now, the Bears will have to swallow hard on $1.125 million against the salary cap in 2019. That is, of course, unless the team designates Parkey as a post-June 1 cut, which would kick the can down the road and apply it to next year’s cap number. Rapoport doesn’t indicate whether that’s the course of action the Bears are taking, but it’s a possibility.
With Parkey out of the picture, Redford Jones is the only kicker on the Bears’ roster. We’ve talked about some other options right here, but we’ll have a full 2019 outlook for special teams in the very near future.
Moving forward, we’ll be keeping our eyes and ears open for potential free agent fits and draft prospects who could fill the most glaring need on what was otherwise a championship-caliber roster. Stay tuned, Bears fans. Business is about to pick up.