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Kicker Cody Parkey has a long road to travel if he ever wants Chicago Bears fans to believe in him next season. And, sorry Bears fans, but Parkey will most likely be back thanks to his contract. According to Spotrac, if the Bears release him they will be paying him around $5.2 million to sit at home on his couch.
Fortunately for him, some of Parkey’s Bears teammates have already gone to bat for him in the media.
Kyle Long told Parkey, “Dude, you had like half of our points today.”
There’s not one play that costs the game and not one play that loses the game. We win and lose as a team! Family forever!
— Prince Amukamara (@PrinceAmukamara) January 7, 2019
Akiem Hicks said, “You support your guy, because he’s there all day. He doesn’t want to miss a kick.”
Trey Burton on Cody Parkey: "We’re all behind him. No one’s pointing fingers at him, no one’s against him. We’re all trying to see what we can to do help him. I would never want to kick in these conditions."
— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) November 11, 2018
Heck, even the Eagles Chris Long and one of Philly’s most famous fans, Kobe Bryant, have his back. (Parkey set a NFL rookie scoring record for the Eagles in his rookie season back in 2014.)
Kick was tipped. https://t.co/sQyiQxhwqU
— chris long (@JOEL9ONE) January 7, 2019
After tweeting, #thankunext, Bryant followed up with some motivational words for the beleaguered kicker.
“We’ve all been here Cody but if you wanna win back the city you gotta get back in the lab and have a historic season next year to bury this one,” Bryant wrote. “I’m happy for my #EaglesNation but as a fellow pro athlete you gotta grind harder and double down #noexcuses #JGSD justgetsh*tdone.”
We’ve all been here Cody but if you wanna win back the city you gotta get back in the lab and have a historic season next year to bury this one. I’m happy for my #EaglesNation but as a fellow pro athlete you gotta grind harder and double down #noexcuses #JGSD justgetsh*tdone https://t.co/icd3MQRQFg
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 7, 2019
Dwyane Wade also weighed in on Twitter.
Most of you have no idea how hard this is to do. Cody Parkey way to face the media like a true professional. I’m a fan! https://t.co/xbJ5kW6pXF
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) January 7, 2019
Bryant and Wade are right. And so are the Bears players that spoke out. The loss should definitely not all be on Parkey.
Bears were +2 in turnovers Sunday vs. Eagles. Home teams that were +2 in the playoffs the past 40 years were 112-4.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 7, 2019
That being said, fans are gonna fan… and Parkey’s gonna Parkey.
Bet you I make this kick
— Cody Parkey (@CodyParkey) October 13, 2014
That was a chip shot
— Cody Parkey (@CodyParkey) October 26, 2014