Chicago Bears: Pre-Combine 7-Round 2019 mock draft

Yes, the Chicago Bears have taken a salary cap hit and part ways with Cody Parkey. When he first missed his attempted playoff game-winning field goal, I defended him. I mean, he missed a lot of field goal attempts because of multiple hits of the uprights. What are the odds of that happening again?

Then he went on television and had that controversial appearance. After that, the reactions of Pace and Nagy didn’t exactly give Parkey much job security. Later, the Chicago Bears went out and signed another kicker. Things didn’t look good. Then came the news everyone was waiting for — the team decided to cut Parkey when the new season officially begins.

I thought when the Bears had a few kickers in and ultimately signed Redford Jones that the message sent was that Parkey was in for a battle in camp and the preseason. That was not the case. Team officials didn’t even want to keep things under wraps, they let everyone know that the Parkey experience is over.

With that being said, I don’t think Jones is the answer. Yes, there will be a battle, but it won’t involve Parkey. The battle will be Jones, some veterans they bring in, and a draft pick. I think Matt Gay is that draft pick.

Gay has a strong leg and can make kicks from far away. In a scrimmage in 2018, he hit a 62-yard field goal that coaches said would be good from 70 yards. In November against Oregon, he made all six of his field goal attempts. In a game against Colorado, he made three of four attempts in the snow and wind.

Gay also put in a tremendous amount of work to get where he is today. He was a soccer player a Utah Valley University. He walked on to the Utes and eventually earned a scholarship. He did so well he won the Lou Groza Award in 2017 as the best kicker in the nation. Gay could really push Parkey and could win the job.