Philadelphia Eagles: Cody Parkey’s NFL tour continues in New Orleans

Cody Parkey hasn’t been a member of the Philadelphia Eagles since 2015, and yet, his most significant contribution to the franchise came three years later, in a pivotal Wild Card playoff game.

Then a member of Matt Nagy‘s Chicago Bears, Parkey double-doinked a 43-yard field goal that would have put his team ahead 18-16 and watched from the sidelines as the reigning champion Eagles advanced to a second-round soiree against the New Orleans Saints in the Divisional Round.

Granted, the Birds did ultimately drop that game to Drew Brees and company on a, well, drop by Alshon Jeffery, but had Parkey banked that ball in for an easy three, we may not be talking about that particular season in the same light.

Fast forward a few years into the future, and the New Orleans Saints are hoping that Cody Parkey can once again put them in a better playoff position, as they’ve signed the former Philadelphia Eagles kicker to bolster their special teams moving forward.

Cody Parkey’s post-Philadelphia Eagles tour continues in NE.

The New Orleans Saints haven’t had the best luck with kickers as of late.

After watching their long-time Pro Bowl kicker Wil Lutz head to IR after undergoing core muscle surgery back in August, the Saints scoured the league and seemingly struck gold in their pursuit of a short-term special teams solution in ex-New York Giants/Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Aldrick Rosas.

On paper, Rosas was a good get. He, too, was a former Pro Bowler, the proud owner of a 78.9 field goal percentage, and even recorded three punts in 2020 in a 14-40 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

In practice, however, it was a very different story.

While Rosas was perfect on his 13 extra-point attempts, he was a putrid performer from the field goal line(?), missing three of his four attempts, including a gimme from 36 versus the New England Patriots.

Granted, two of those misses were from 50 plus, including a 58-yarder versus the New York Giants, but when you’re a team like the New Orleans Saints with serious playoff aspirations, having a reliable kicker is paramount, especially as the air gets colder and the games get tighter.

Enter ex-Philadelphia Eagles kicker Cody Parkey.

Now, since a double-doink ended his tenure in Chicago, kicking hasn’t been too kind to Parkey. He was released by the Bears shortly thereafter despite having $3.5 million in guaranteed money left on his contract, had had to wait until October for his next opportunity to take the field, signing with the Tennessee Titans as a replacement for Cairo Santos, who himself was signed to replace incumbent starter Ryan Succop, who started out the season on IR. Parkey appeared in three games, made all three of his field goals, and hit on five of his six extra-point attempts before being released by the following month in November.

From there, Parkey rejoined the Cleveland Browns for a second tenure in the City of Champions and played fairly well for Kevin Stefanski‘s squad, making 19-22 field goal attempts while hitting on 91.5 percent of his extra-point attempts. Had Parkey remained healthy, he’d likely still be a member of the Browns to this day, but he suffered a quad injury that sent him to preseason IR and effectively ended his season in Cleveland. With Chase McLaughlin in place as his replacement and no path back to the field, Parkey was granted his release the following day to pursue another opportunity to play once his quad healed up.

That, apparently, has happened, as the New Orleans Saints feel confident enough in Parkey’s health to give him the not to replace both Rosas and Lutz for the foreseeable future.

Will it work? Only time will tell. Since his down year in Chicago, Cody Parkey has been good in limited action but considering he’s only attempted 25 field goals since double-doinking the most important kick of his career, that sample size isn’t particularly expansive. Then again, if the New Orleans Saints feel confident enough in the 29-year-old to give him his eighth NFL opportunity, who is this Philadelphia Eagles fan to argue?