What to like: The Bears feel confident in Cody Parkey, who enters his fifth NFL season with his fourth team. With the Eagles in 2014, Parkey set an NFL rookie scoring record. His 150 points bested the previous record of 144 set by Bears kicker Kevin Butler in 1985.

Parkey was named a Pro Bowl alternate that season and ended up a replacement for the Patriots’ Stephen Gostkowski.

Last season with the Dolphins, Parkey made 91.3 percent of his field-goal attempts, tying a franchise record for accuracy. He also has history with new special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, whom he was with in Cleveland in 2016.

“He knows what I’m good at,” Parkey said. “He knows what I can improve on. Knowing he was here definitely added a sense of comfort for me.”

One more fun fact: Parkey’s dad attended high school in Naperville and grew up a Bears fan.

Biggest question: How will the NFL’s kickoff changes affect the game?

In May, the league passed new rules aimed at improving player safety. Among the most notable, coverage teams no longer will be allowed a running start before the kick and must line up five players on each side of the ball. Return teams no longer will be able to use wedge blocks and can deploy only three players outside the 15-yard setup zone. There will also be no blocking in a 15-yard zone from the point of the kickoff until the ball is caught or hits the ground.

Tabor, who supported the changes, can’t say whether they will be more beneficial to the return team or kickoff team.

“I still think you’re going to see a lot of touchbacks early in the season,” he said. “Then when you get to October, when the return season officially begins, you’ll be able to get better answers.”

Fresh face: Ryan Winslow, who went undrafted out of Pitt, will have a chance to unseat Pat O’Donnell for the punting job. It’s still O’Donnell’s job to lose, and smart money says the fifth-year veteran will be around come September. But the Bears guaranteed O’Donnell only $500,000 on a one-year deal and have stressed the need for competition.

With that in mind, Winslow would be wise to understand the things Tabor most values in a punter. The short checklist: leg strength, ball placement, a knack for getting the ball out on time and the ability to eliminate returns.

“And then,” Tabor added, “the things you can’t forget about is (being) the holder. He’s the main guy working with the kicker.”

You should know: Tabor is excited about his options for return men. Upon being hired this winter, he singled out Tarik Cohen as a dynamic weapon, lauding the running back’s risk-taking mentality. But the Bears also will consider receivers Taylor Gabriel and Anthony Miller, among others, for return roles.

Said Tabor: “I’ve always said I want to have a bunch of horses in the stable. And if a horse is down a little bit, then we go to the next one. That’s what we’re trying to develop.”

Quote of note: “As a coach you have to be able to adapt. One thing we say is adapt or die. The dinosaurs couldn’t figure it out and they became extinct. Coaches? If they don’t figure it out they get fired, so we’ll adapt. And I’m looking forward to the challenge.” — Tabor, on taking over a new special teams unit without a lot of stability.

dwiederer@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @danwiederer