Smallwood: Two Eagles kickers competing for the lone job

Professional athletes understand their time in the spotlight is limited and that injury is part of the process.

Still, some injuries seem to be particularly cruel and leave you asking why someone deserves something like that.

If your NFL career is that of place-kicker, your legs are your lifeblood. Even the slightest injury to either leg can develop into something career-threatening,

What happened to Eagles kicker Cody Parkey last September was about as awful as it can get.

Last September, at some point before or during the Eagles third game against the New York Jets, Parkey tore three of the five muscles in his groin. (Link to news story here.)

Suddenly, a fairytale story that saw him go from an undrafted free agent in 2014 to becoming Pro Bowl kicker for the Eagles as a rookie was not heading toward happily ever after.

"This is part of the game," said Parkey, who in 2014 set a NFL rookie record and Eagles team record by scoring 150 points. "It's what you sign up for.

"If you don't get injured at some point in your career, you're pretty fortunate."

Again it is the nature of Parkey's injury in relation to his NFL position.

There are a lot of battles for positions taking place during Eagles training camp and one of the most intriguing, even if far off the radar of most fans, is the one between Parkey and Caleb Sturgis – the kicker who replaced him in 2015.

Sturgis did a passable job by connecting on 18 of 22 field goal attempts for the Eagles and 35 of 37 point after touchdown attempts. He was 4-for-4 on field goals and had 15 points in a win over New Orleans. He had a season-long field goal of 53 yards but missed on two other attempts from 50.

Parkey, who was acquired in a trade from the Indianapolis Colts, made the Eagles as a rookie because of his ability to make long field goals.

In 2014, he set a franchise record with four field goals of 50+ yards.

But one groin tear, much less three, is going to affect that.

"I feel good," said Parkey, who missed his attempt from 49 yards in drills during Sunday's practice at Lincoln Financial Field. "Every day I'm kicking better.

"Having a lot of reps is really important for me because I didn't get a lot of them this past year. I miss some here and there but as long as I'm getting better that is all I can ask for right now."

It's an open competition between Parkey and Sturgis because neither has played for new head coach Doug Pederson.

"No," Pederson said when asked if either kicker had an edge. "It's part of the evaluation process so we haven't made any decisions yet one way or the other."

That's fine with Parkey, especially with what he is coming back from.

"All I can do is do my best every single day," he said.