Cody Parkey: ‘It Just Gave Out On Me’

The pain shot through with the first swing of the leg Sunday. As he booted a ball to begin warm-ups, Cody Parkey knew there was something wrong.

“Wow. This does not feel good,” he remembers thinking.

He played in the Jets game anyway. Made his lone field goal attempt from 30 yards out as well as all three extra-point tries, and handled kickoff duties. That proved to be quite a feat. An MRI following Sunday’s win showed that he had torn all three muscles in the groin.

He was nursing a groin injury this summer which forced him to miss a portion of the preseason. His name did not appear on the injury report once the regular season began, however, and both Chip Kelly and Parkey suggested that the ailment was behind him.

“I honestly thought it just kept getting better and I guess in the long run it was just very fatigued, just something I kept pushing through,” said Parkey. “And it was honestly starting to feel better so I’m not sure really what happened, it just kind of gave out on me along with the other two muscles in the groin.”

Parkey had an MRI earlier in the year, he said, “but this obviously showed the most going on.”

Had he been kicking with torn muscles for weeks now?

“It’s hard to say. It’s hard to say. Regardless, I was happy I was able to get in the game and kind of help our team out. I know Caleb is here now. Caleb Sturgis is a great kicker and he’s going to help us out a lot this year.”

Sturgis was picked out of a handful of kickers the Eagles tried out this week. The 26-year-old out of Florida spent the last two seasons with the Dolphins. He hit 55 of his 71 field goal tries (77.5 percent) in Miami, including 20-of-33 from 40 yards out. He was released this September in favor of Andrew Franks.

“I don’t make the decisions there. I thought I was hitting the ball well,” said Sturgis, who injured his quad while participating in a team-organized kickball game earlier in the summer.

He worked out with two other teams before being signed by the Eagles, he said.

“I feel really ready,” said Sturgis. “This is my third year kicking, and fortunately for me it’s not a big playbook or anything I have to learn, it’s getting used to a great  long snapper and a great holder and just go make field goals and kick off well.”

As for Parkey, the plan for now is to go with rest and rehab instead of surgery.

“There is not a doubt in my mind that I can be the Eagles kicker next year,” he said. “I’m going to be back to my normal self and it’s going to feel real good.”