2015 Dolphins grades – DeVante Parker

The Miami Dolphins made DeVante Parker their number one draft pick in the 2015 draft but it would be almost an entire season before they were able to see what they had purchased.

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DeVante Parker – wide-receiver

2016 salary – $2.47 million

Parker missed most of the off-season workouts recovering from a foot injury he suffered in his senior season. The Dolphins would put him down for all of the pre-season when Parker had surgery to repair the foot. Parker’s missed time kept him from gaining much needed reps and conditioning. When he returned to the field, he struggled. Making matters worse was that when he was healthy, he fell pray to the Joe Philbin mentality of sitting rookies. He didn’t get much playing time.

Later in the season the Dolphins lost Rishard Matthews and Parker finally had time to show what he could do. There was an obvious lack of chemistry early on between Tannehill and Parker and Parker’s route running wasn’t crisp and there were some dropped passes but as the season progressed, Parker became a very big target for Tannehill and the two started to make more and more connections.

Despite only catching 29 balls in 2015, Parker posted an impressive 494 yards receiving, three touchdowns, and an impressive 19 yards per catch. Once Parker got his confidence back he was able to start making people miss after the catch, he was able to make the cuts necessary to gain separation and in the end, Parker has a very nice finish to an otherwise quiet rookie season.

2015 grade – “B”

Why a “B”?

Playing time was the biggest issue for Parker and while some of that, at least early in the season, was his own lack of conditioning and his injured foot, there is some blame to be shouldered by the coaching staff. It became evident late in the season that Parker needed reps to build his confidence and get acclimated to the speed and force of the NFL. When he was on the field however, he gave fans a reason to believe that his future in Miami could be very promising.