Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Bears have made the decision to release K Cody Parkey at the start of the 2019 league year next month.
The Bears had made it clear that they were going to add competition at kicker this offseason, so there was no guarantee Parkey would win the job this summer.
Parkey, 26, originally signed on with the Colts as an undrafted free agent out of Auburn back in May of 2014. However, he was traded to the Eagles after a few months in exchange for RB David Fluellen.
Parkey lasted two years in Philadelphia before being waived and later signed with the Browns as a free agent. Cleveland elected cut Parkey loose in 2017 as they trimmed their roster down to the 53-man limit and he was claimed off of waivers by the Dolphins.
The Bears elected to sign Parkey to a four-year, $15 million contract that includes $9 million guaranteed last year. He was set to make base salaries of $2.75 million and $2.625 million over the next two years of the agreement.
According to OverTheCap.com, releasing Parkey will lead to a loss of $1,125,000 of cap space. However, they could get this down to $0 by designating him as a post-June 1 release.
In 2018, Parkey appeared in all 16 games for the Bears and converted 23 of 30 field goal attempts (76.6 percent) to go along with 42 of 45 extra point tries (93.3 percent).
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