Well, it looks like we need a kicker...didn't see this one coming. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-dolphins-cody-parkey-20180313-story.html
Ask the Shehacks what having a good consistent kicker is worth. They basically missed the playoffs because of two kicks. Although to be fair in one game their kicker missed three from 30 or less. But any one of them wins the game.
And having a kicker who can consistently put the ball where he wants on kickoffs may be just as important Saw the Patriots a lot this year kicking it to the 3 yd line and playing great coverage. They got a lot of drives starting at the 10-15 yd line.
As was said, it depends on what the bears are paying him. But I'm sad to see him go. Young and talented, and grew up a dolphins fan. Weird we didn't try to sign him long term before free agency, unless we did abd his agent let the team know he was shooting for the moon with his demands.
he was a locker room issue too. lol I just laughed when I seen this, Miami is in such shambles the freakin kicker wants out.
Lol talk about a sky is falling attitude. Kickers go where they paid the most. Kickers generally are not worth big contracts.
Most kickers aren't even drafted- that should tell you something. There are over 400 college teams out there, each with a pretty good kicker, and less than 10% of those guys make it to the NFL. I don't think it's hard to find a really high quality guy to bring in. With that said though, I did really like Parkey. We recovered a few on-side kicks thanks to his talents and he had a huge cannon of a leg. I wish we could have kept him.
I would actually dispute some of those thoughts. There are 32 NFL teams, and frankly not enough quality kickers to go around. That's one of the reasons that some of the older guys always have jobs for such a long time. College kicking is pretty awful, on the whole. Think about it. 120 top tier college teams, and only 1 or 2 has a kicker good enough to get a NFL job most seasons, and even then usually on teams that are desperate. Again, unless his demands were sky high, I think that the Fins really missed on an opprotunity to solve the position long term with Parkey. Our current coached and front office seem to not value the position at all.
You could be absolutely right- I really have no idea. Here's how I was looking at it though- Let's take your 120 top-tier teams and say only 2% have NFL level kickers. That's 2.5 kickers a year....or 10 every four years. So it would take 13 years for every team to have a shot at drafting a top prospect. That seems about right due to the length these guys stay in the league. However, I also think about both my high school and college kickers. The high school kicker went on to play pro soccer in Europe- he was only on our football team for the off-season workout. He was kicking 45 yarders accurately when he was 15 though. Our college kicker also played soccer- our coach begged him to join the football program because he had a cannon for a leg. He could kick 65 yarders about 1 in 3 attempts....the first would split the uprights, the second took out someone in the left stands, and the third hit the right stands. We didn't have a true kicking coach though so he was never developed...he went on to play semi-pro soccer in the US. My point is that a lot of those division II and III kickers that you're ignoring have NFL potential- they're just not developed because they're more focused on soccer. The kicker from the movie Unnecessary Roughness- that was basically our college kicker's mentality....he could really care less. But I'd bet a dollar that he has more talent/leg strength than Parkey. I'm guessing that there are a ton of kickers out there just like him that never even get noticed because they're not kicking for division 1 schools. Or maybe not...you could be 100% correct. I don't think you are though.
Those are all good points. My own high school had a really good kicker who was a few years younger than me, and happened to be a close friend of my brother in law. He could kick 50+ yard FGs really well, and had the leg for 60 too. He wanted to attend WVU (in state school), and just asked for the chance to be a walk on. But the HC at the time, Rich Rodriguez, wanted no part in any in state players more than he already had, even though he had a big hole at kicker at the time. Wouldn't give the guy a chance to try out. He ended up going to a school that didn't even have a football team because he was really smart and could do well they offered a major that WVU did not.
He was actually consistent last year and played like he wanted to be here. I wish we could have held on to this guy. A kicker is no longer a known commodity in the NFL. Most of them are very unreliable.
Parkey signed a 4 year $15 million dollar contract with $9 million in guaranteed money His base salary with us was $690,000......that's the reason he's not here$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
That is.....not true. Many teams have kickers that are very dependable. Perhaps the merry go round that we've had in recent years has jaded people. 18 kickers attempted 30 or more field goals last season, and 16 of those were 83% or better. 28 kickers attempted 20 or more, and 22 of them were at 80% or better.
Parkey is a nice kicker. Highest pct of kicks made in dolphins history for a season right? And a record 4 successful onside kicks!
Steep, but the Bears have had some major kicking issues, so they were probably fine overpaying. Camp competition for us!
Course I was just praising the kid and we lose him. This is why I back away from the keyboard in the offseason.
There are basically no free agent kickers left to sign. So, we're likely going to end up with another unproven rookie (which fails about 3X as often as it works), or signing someone that another team cuts later in the offseason. Hardly ideal either way.