(Yong Kim/Philly.com Staff Photographer)

It would be his first, and a well-deserved selection for Parkey, too.

The Eagles’ rookie kicker’s only 22 years old, and was an undrafted free-agent out of Auburn, one that was picked up by Indianapolis this past May. Parkey was signed by the Colts to be their kick-off kicker, since every-day kicker Adam Vinatieri, at age 41, accepted a more limited role with the team, due to his age. Parkey was described, coming out of Auburn, as a kicker with a big leg, and one that was considered as one of the top kickers in this past-year’s draft.

Three-months later, he was traded by Indianapolis to the Eagles for running back David Fluellen, who was also undrafted. Each team’s trash ended up being the opposite team’s treasure, after the trade went down. Oddly enough, both were released just prior to the trade, but it was approved, due to the releases not being official until 4 PM of that day.

Fast-forward a bit, Parkey’s made tremendous strides and has been fantastic thus far this year, making Eagles’ fans easily forget about the failed experiment that was Alex Henery, Parkey’s predecessor, who’s now a free-agent. Henery had signed with the Lions, following his release from the Eagles three-weeks prior, on September 22nd, replacing Detroit’s struggling kicker, Nate Freese.

Shortly after, however, after three field-goal misses in one game vs. Buffalo, Henery was cut again, following the Buffalo game two-weeks after his signing. He had gone just 1/5 in his two games with Detroit, and 0-2 from 40-49 yards. Despite his criticisms in Philadelphia, in three years, from 2011-13, with the team, he went 74/86 in field-goal attempts; an 86% efficiency. But he was mostly criticized for his weakness, in not being able to be consistently good on long field-goal attempts and kick-off returns, many of which weren’t touchbacks or deep kicks.

Back to Parkey, first off, to give you an idea of how great he was at Auburn, too, he went 15/21 (71.4%) on field-goals in his collegiate career, and impressively led all of college football in that time span in touchbacks, with 69. Despite his success, he was only 1/4 (25%) in 50+ field-goal attempts, although this year he’s improved dramatically in that category, going an incredible and perfect 4/4, including a 54-yard field-goal on October 26th at Arizona. His leg strength, and deep field goals, have been very impressive, surprisingly good, and vital to the team’s success thus far this year. Parkey’s also been extremely clutch, too, as shown by the numerous 50+ made field-goals this season.

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