Finally, Parker ‘dialed in’
Dolphins hoping confidence = output
There is a pep in DeVante Parker’s step that has been missing all season.
For the first time in a long time Parker feels good, is healthy, and most importantly, is moving around like a receiver taken in the first round of the NFL draft should.
“He’s had two good days,” Dolphins coach Adam Gase said. “He’s practicing fast. I feel like his body feels good.”
According to offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, Parker is “dialed in mentally.”
“You see it through his play,” Loggains added.
Parker, who has battled hand and quadriceps injuries most of this season, made his second start of the season last week in the Dolphins’ 42-23 loss to the Houston Texans and turned in the best performance of his career, catching six passes for 134 yards.
“I can feed off that,” said Parker, the Dolphins’ 2015 first-round pick. “Doing that has just built my confidence even more.”
This is Loggains’ first year with the Dolphins, so he’s had to learn how quiet and reserved the former Louisville standout is.
But as Loggains has discovered, Parker’s personality blooms as his confidence grows. And as his confidence grows, his practice speed and impact increase.
“When his confidence goes up, you start to feel it a little bit,” Loggains said. “It’s cool to see, and exciting to see….Hopefully he can build on that game and have a lot of success.”
What makes Parker’s breakout game even more impressive is the fact he has practiced sparingly with Brock Osweiler, the quarterback throwing him those passes.
“He put it in a spot and I tried to get to the right spot,” said Parker, who is embarking on his first full week of practice with Osweiler as his quarterback as Ryan Tannehill will miss his fourth straight start because of a shoulder injury.
According to Parker, his breakthrough game had more to do with opportunity than talent.
“That’s what I can deliver every week if I stay on the field and remain healthy,” said Parker, who has caught 147 passes for 2,082 yards and eight touchdowns in the 45 games he’s played the past four seasons.
Considering injuries have consistently derailed Parker’s season the past three years there’s no guarantee on how long he’ll be available. But Parker stressed he began doing acupuncture a month ago and has noticed a difference in his body, especially regarding the soft-tissue injuries.
Parker knows he can’t afford any more setbacks because he’s not just playing for his team.
He’s playing for his NFL future, considering the fifth-year option Miami exercised in May, which commits $9.4 million to him for the 2019 season, is only guaranteed for injury.
Miami can waive Parker at the end of this season, making him an unrestricted free agent, and projected salary space.
It’s on Parker to use the final eight games to prove he deserves that $9.4 million, which would make him the fourth-highestpaid player on the roster, and Miami’s coaching staff plans to put him in position to do so.
The Dolphins intend to have Parker playing all three receiver spots, moving him around in the offense, much like Houston’s Deandre Hopkins and Cincinnati’s A.J. Green do, so defenses can’t lock in on him.
That strategy is somewhat of an admission that Miami’s coaches have been using him incorrectly.
“We just got stagnant in a lot of the stuff that we did with him,” Gase said.
The goal is to create more favorable matchups for Miami’s 6-foot-3, 216-pound receiver.
“He has size. He has length,” Loggains said. “Obviously we’re not the tallest receiver group and he brings something different that way. We’re going to keep expanding his role.” turn his into cap