Dolphins receiver DeVante Parker covered better by excuses

The Miami Dolphins spent a first round pick on WR DeVante Parker and while opposing corners can’t cover him, the mounting excuses can.

For the better part of three seasons now Parker has been that player everyone is waiting to break out. He entered the league needing surgery on his foot. When he finally got on the field, the excuse was issues associated with the surgery.

A year later and Parker was being excused because of conditioning. It plagued him almost his entire sophomore season. In the off-season Parker vowed to change his work ethic and get into better condition. Miami’s OC Clyde Christensen said this would be the year that Parker broke out of that funk. After all most WR’s find their groove in year three.

2017 has not been a good one for Parker. Armando Salguero points out that five of the last nine pass attempts to Parker have resulted in interceptions. He has had dropped balls, ran bad routes, doesn’t angle for position, and then every once in a while he makes a big play.

Throughout the season this year we have heard that Parker doesn’t play well when he is aching. In other words he has to be free of any types of pain or he can’t produce at the level that everyone expects him to. It’s an excuse. They are all excuses.

To put it bluntly the Dolphins got a rotten egg or at the very least one that may fully rot if not eaten soon. With a decision on Jarvis Landry coming this off-season the Dolphins can’t rely on Parker and they can’t worry about him breaking out enough to warrant an extension when his 5th year option is up. A change of scenery may do Parker good.

It is hard to imagine the Dolphins giving up on such a high level prospect but week in and week out Parker is not displaying advancement he showing regression. And the excuses continue to mount. When Parker is ‘healthy’ he is a hard player to cover. When his head is in the game, he is a hard player to cover. When he gets his body around and uses his size to shield off defenders, he is a hard player to cover.

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Parker simply doesn’t do any of that consistently. This week the team said Parker had a good week of practice. That’s great but what does he do in a game? Is he simply in a rut that he can’t get out of or is there something else at play? I’m not sure anyone knows at this point.

In 2017 Parker has missed three games. In the other games combine he has been targeted 61 times but has only 36 receptions to show for it. He was one touchdown. His 414 yards are nothing special. His longest catch was 31 yards in week one against the Chargers. He has three games with a long of 24 or higher.

That production is not what Miami drafted him for. With no games over the 100 yard mark this year Parker is more or less a number two wide-out. Cutler and even Matt Moore have more faith in Kenny Stills.

Miami is in a bind with Parker. If they pay the value of Jarvis Landry they won’t be able to afford to extend Parker until his 5th year option is up. That will be in 2019 so there is still time to get him acclimated to the NFL but if he needs to be 100% healthy to play at a high level, he won’t likely reach that level. If that is the case then the Dolphins should seriously consider trade options if anyone believes they can turn him around.

When Parker was drafted in 2015 there were high-fives from Mike Tannenbaum and then GM Dennis Hickey. Head Coach Joe Philbin didn’t seem all that pleased, maybe he knew something they didn’t.