The Browns have added some more competition for Cody Parkey. Cleveland was awarded Chase McLaughlin off waivers from the Jets, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
The Jets had claimed McLaughlin off waivers themselves from the Jaguars last December. He’s already bounced around a remarkable portion of the league considering he only entered the NFL as an UDFA in 2019. Despite playing just two seasons, McLaughlin has already spent time with the Bills, Vikings, Chargers, 49ers, Colts, Vikings (again), Jaguars, Jets, and now Browns.
He’s now played for a fourth of the league, and only just turned 25. Most of those stints were obviously short, and a few were just on the practice squad or during the preseason. As far as regular season action goes, McLaughlin kicked in a few games for the Colts, Chargers, and 49ers all in 2019. He then kicked in three for the Jags last year and one for the Jets.
In his career, the Illinois product is 22/28 on field goals and 31/32 on extra points. Parkey was solid but not spectacular in his first year in Cleveland in 2020, making 19 of 22 field goals and 43 of 47 extra points. The Browns never even had him attempt one from beyond 50 yards. They also currently have Matthew McCrane on the offseason roster.
I actually remember him not doing too bad with the 49ers, and looked like he could get a starting job somewhere..
With Parkey though, does he just not have the leg to make the 50 yarders, or what?? Because I just can’t see it being they didn’t have the opportunity to atleast try one..
If he can’t make them from 50 on though, then they’ve got to look elsewhere, especially if they’re going to be looking to make a real run at a division title and an AFC championship…
They didn’t trust him to go any further than 50. Oddly enough though, he’s 8-10 in his career from 50+ even though he didn’t attempt any last year and only kicked one the year before.
friendly reminder of the fact that Cody Parkey is the projected kicker for a serious contender this year, further showing how knee-jerk CHI was to cut him.