NEWSLETTER
Well, this is one way to bury the news of Cody Parkey’s official release:
https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears/status/1105957220272033792
One line in a tweet. One sentence in a post announcing that the team tendered contracts to three reserves who figure to be key reserves on the 2019 team. And we’ll get to Roy Robertson-Harris, Isaiah Irving, and Rashaad Coward in a later post. But for the moment, let’s focus on Parkey’s departure (which we’ve been expecting for some time).
The Bears signed Parkey at this time last year as part of their splashy free agency of change. And after two years of kicking misfires, signing Parkey was an idea that was rooted in good faith, but ultimately a grand disappointment. Here is what we wrote about the deal when it was made:
The Bears haven’t had much stability (or productivity, for that matter) at the position and Chicago would make Parkey’s fourth team in five years.
Clearly, both sides could use someone to settle down with.
As for the stats, Parkey has made 86.4 percent of his field goal attempts and is coming off a career-best season in which he connected on 91.3 percent of his field goals. He made good on 21 of 23 tries with the Miami Dolphins in 2017, his best showing since his rookie season in 2014 when he made 32 of 36 kicks with the Philadelphia Eagles. Parkey made the Pro Bowl that season and set a new rookie scoring record, breaking a mark once held by former Bears great Kevin Butler.
Oof. Quite the jinx there, eh?
When speaking with the media at the NFL Scouting Combine, GM Ryan Pace indicated Parkey was going to be a post-June 1 cut. By doing this, the Bears soften the blow of their cap-hit as it goes from $5.1 million to a shade over $4 million. And as an added bonus, the team will gain $1.125 million in cap room starting on June 2.
Parkey arrived in Chicago with promise, but left leaving nothing but memories of the sound of a double-doink and a thud that ended the team’s Super Bowl dreams much earlier than anyone expected.
