Miami Dolphins need to play De’Vante Parker more

The Miami Dolphins have been keeping De’Vante Parker out of the game plan for three weeks. It’s time. They need to play him. Parker gives Ryan Tannehill another weapon on offense and in the few plays that he has been on the field, he has looked good. Forget the drop on Sunday, he is playing far better than starter Greg Jennings.

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File this in the overstuffed folder labeled “what the hell are the coaches thinking?”. It’s the folder that takes up the entire top drawer in the filing cabinet and has the red strip across the top. It’s easy to find. Decisions by the coaching staff are baffling right now. I know, “duh” came to my mind as well. On Sunday they opted to sit Jordan Phillips and I can’t tell you 100% if he was a healthy scratch or it was a coaches decision. I can tell you that he should be on the field as a 2nd rounder. Period.

Parker however missed all of training camp and has been brought along slowly since he returned from off-season surgery. That isn’t going to cut it anymore. Parker has had no complaints of soreness in his foot and when he is on the field, he is hard to miss. His size is noticeable and his chemistry with Ryan Tannehill is improving by the day. So why are the Dolphins coaches playing Jennings over top of him?

Jennings is supposed to be that veteran who runs great routes and has sure hands but thus far he is dropping more than he is catching. Or so it appears. One thing is for certain, over the course of three weeks, Parker looks much better than the starter.

In the three weeks since the season started, Jennings has recorded four receptions for 39 yards with his longest catch being 11 yards. Parker who played a much more limited role has four receptions for 49 yards and a long of 19. You can’t discount one 19 yard pass in his stats. He is getting open and he is giving Tannehill a legit target. Yet we still see Parker on the sidelines more and more.

On Sunday, Parker was featured far more in the 2nd half and had two badly thrown passes tossed his way in the end zone in scrap time. The Dolphins need to get their number one pick more involved in this offense and they need to do it now.

This past April’s draft came with a lot of hype. Parker was the teams first pick and Jordan Phillips the 2nd. Phillips as mentioned sat out yesterday’s game and was not on the injury report and Parker played in mop up when it didn’t really matter. If you are going to waste draft pick, as Miami has been doing for years, then don’t be afraid to trade them for veterans who can help your team win.

There is so much blame to go around as we head into week four but Parker needs to be one of those players on the field. As of today Jarvis Landry and Reshard Matthews are accounting for most of the Dolphins passing offense. Landry has 24 receptions for 230 yards and Matthews has 16 receptions for 262 with three touchdowns. Tight end Jordan Cameron has 10 receptions for 151 yards.

Someone needs to step up and take the pressure off of Landry and Matthews. Landry is on pace for 127 receptions this year and at some point he is going to start breaking down as the season wears on. Matthews is having a career season thus far but the money throws need to go to Parker. That’s what the Dolphins drafted him for.

We all understand that wide-receivers take a little longer to develop but we all recognize that the Miami offense is playing very vanilla right now so Parker shouldn’t have a huge learning curve while on the field. Practice is great to get the quarterback and receiver chemistry but let’s also face another truth, Miami is practicing against their own defense which isn’t very good.

The wait needs to be over and it’s time to throw your first round rookie onto the field for the entire game. No more sitting him on the bench watching when he can be making plays on the field. It’s obvious that Jennings is not doing that. Jennings should now be the insurance policy. His contract is guaranteed for the season but his plays should be limited so the Dolphins can get Parker far more involved. It’s time.