Miami’s Parker keeps it real
he’s going to throw it to you.”
Parker admits that injuries have held him back in his first two NFL seasons, but he views concerns about his health — fragile history — as a thing of the past.
“In the past I waited too long to start working out again. This year I had in my mind I’d go home for a couple weeks and then come back and start right back at it,” said Parker, who began his offseason training at the facility in January.
Miami’s coaches point out he was the first player back in the team’s facility.
As a byproduct, this is Parker’s first offseason where an injury hasn’t slowed his development, or hindered the chemistry he was developing with the quarterbacks. That’s why Miami’s coaches and players expect big things from their 6-foot-3, 212-pound receiver, who spent a week learning from former Lions great Calvin Johnson during training camp.
Johnson taught Parker the finer points of coming in and out of his breaks, which should help Parker get open against press coverage. However, it doesn’t seem like his new quarterback plans to shy away from throwing to a covered Parker.
“As long as there’s just one [defender], the ball’s going up to him,” Cutler predicted of Parker, whom he labeled a faster Alshon Jeffrey, referring to the talented receiver he played numerous seasons with in Chicago. “He’s got a lot of range, back shoulder and over the top. He’s got great hands. Then, he can burn you up if you’re flatfooted.”
If there’s one player Adam Gase has been critical of during his tenure as the Dolphins’ head been Parker.
Last season Gase routinely questioned Parker’s professionalism. Everything got discussed, from his sleeping habits, to his hydration levels.
Gase said he saw a similar growth process with Denver’s Pro Bowl receiver Demaryius Thomas during their early years together with the Broncos, and hoped Parker would eventually “get it.”
The goal was always to help the first-round pick become the player he had the potential to be, which is an alpha receiver.
Parker’s position coach, Shawn Jefferson, challenged Parker to run better routes, which is why he encouraged Johnson, whom he coached in Detroit, to spend a week with the Dolphins during training camp. coach, it has