Titans give Parkey chance to put playoff miss behind him

Cody Parkey’s last kick earned him national attention. It also cost him a job.

His 43-yard field goal attempt for the Chicago Bears with 10 seconds remaining in wild card playoff game with the Philadelphia Eagles hit the left upright and bounced off the crossbar but failed to go through. The miss (a day later the NFL officially ruled it was blocked) left the Bears on the short end of a 16-15 defeat and ended their season.

Chicago cut Parkey in March and commenced with an offseason search for his replacement that at one time included eight kickers at their rookie minicamp.

The Tennessee Titans signed Parkey on Tuesday to replace Cairo Santos, who missed all four field goals he attempted in Sunday’s 14-7 loss to the Buffalo Bills. NFL.com reported a day earlier that Parkey was the Titans’ new choice to fill in for Ryan Succop, who remains on injured reserve due to the effects of offseason knee surgery.

Also Tuesday, the Titans signed running back Rod Smith and promoted running back Dalyn Dawkins from the practice squad to the active roster. Tackle David Quessenberry and guard Daniel Munyer were added to the practice squad.

To make room, center Hroniss Grasu was waived from the active roster and wide receiver Papi White was dropped from the practice squad.

Smith is a fifth-year veteran who has played for Seattle (one game) and Dallas (48 games). He has 364 career rushing yards with five touchdowns on 101 carries and 30 receptions for 272 yards and another touchdown. He spent time with the New York Giants this offseason.

Dawkins made the active roster out of training camp but was cut a day after the season opener in lieu of offensive line depth.

Tennessee will be Parkey’s fifth team in as many years. He kicked for Philadelphia in 2014 and part of 2015, for Cleveland in 2016, for Miami in 2017 and for Chicago in 2018. For his career (65) games, he has made 99 of 118 field goal attempts (83.9 percent) and 149 of 156 extra points (95.5 percent).

His last kick – the playoff miss – drew so much attention that he appeared on the Today Show to discuss what happened and the reaction of coaches, teammates and fans to it.

He finally will get the chance to put it behind him.