Louisville football: DeVante Parker showing the NFL what we already knew

It took a little longer than expected, but former Louisville football star DeVante Parker proving he’s a legitimate NFL number one receiver.

The career of former Louisville football star DeVante Parker hasn’t exactly gone according to how many expected it go.

When the Miami Dolphins selected Parker 14th overall in the 2015 draft, they expected the Louisville native to instantly become a go-to weapon for their “potential” franchise quarterback in Ryan Tannehill and eventually develop into an all-NFL type receiver.

That was by no means a silly expectation. Parker showed for four years at Louisville that when he had the ball in his hand’s good things happened to the tune of 156 receptions for 2,775 total yards and 33 touchdowns – each one more jaw-dropping than the last.

During each of the next four seasons to come, Parker showed flashes of why many expected him to be the next great NFL receiver. Whether it was crazy one-handed catches, or 50/50 jump balls that Parker ripped out of the sky, the potential was there and the Dolphins just had to find a way to get all of it out of him.

Injuries, ineffectiveness, inconsistency, and issues with head coaches would plague Parker following his rookie season in which he finished with 26 receptions for 494 yards and three touchdowns.

Despite all of that each offseason was filled with hype and potential “what-if’s” for Parker finally stepping into his potential and having the breakout season many expected years ago (Don’t believe us? Here are our articles from 2018 and 2019). Although each season ended typically with Parker either out with injury or falling to the bottom of the depth chart.

Maybe a new home was needed for Parker? With Adam Gase fired and Parker set to hit free agency, many expected the Dolphins to move on from their former first-rounder to give him the fresh start that he desperately needed.

That never happened. In fact, new head coach Brian Flores doubled-down on Parker as the Dolphins handed over a two-year extension worth up to $13 million – a bargain compared to what many thought he’d be worth by 2019.

Flores made the right move and it showed all 2019. Except for this time, there wasn’t a bunch of talk about Parker becoming the star receiver that he was drafted to be. Many instead decided he was what he was, a serviceable young receiver capable of providing big plays at a drop of a hat that came with potential injury risk and consistency issues.

With the Dolphins expected to Tank for Tua, journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick was handed the keys to the organization as a one-year “lame duck” which meant that at least Parker was going to have a quarterback not afraid to sling it.

Miami was flat out bad and early on it looked like Parker was going to be in for a slow season once again. Through the first nine games, Parker’s play was much like what was seen through the first four years of his career, inconsistent. In the season opener, Parker caught three passes for 75 yards only to follow it up in week two with zero catches on seven targets.

In week 10 against the Buffalo Bills, Parker had his long-awaited breakout game in what would be just the tip of the iceberg on the 2019 season. He finished that game with 10 catches for 135. Then came six catches for 91 yards the following week, followed up by a career performance of seven receptions for 159 yards and two touchdowns.

In a blink of an eye, the Dolphins’ long-awaited star receiver had arrived – doing so in the fashion that us Louisville fans were used to seeing.

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In his fifth year, it seemed Parker had finally found a connection with a quarterback centered on delivering the ball down the field. Despite the poor play of the Dolphins, the veteran QB Ryan Fitzpatrick wasn’t afraid to live and die on deep passes to DeVante Parker. In the final eight games of the season, Fitzpatrick targeted Parker at least 10 times on six occasions, including a career-high 15 against Cincinnati in week 16.

Parker’s big plays weren’t just in garbage time either. Instead, his big performances translated to victories for a team looking to rebuild a new culture under a first-year head coach. After starting the season 0-7, the Dolphins finished winning five of their final nine games, including their last two which featured the potential upset of the season over the New England Patriots.

Following the season finale against the Pats that saw Parker absolutely dominate the NFL’s top shut down corner in Stephon Gilmore to the tune of eight receptions for 137 yards, the stats told the story of a receiver finally catching a glimpse of what he could be in the right situation.

It may have taken five years, but in 2019 Parker put his stamp on the NFL finishing in the top five in receiving yards – crossing the 1,000-yard marker for the first time in his career. That’s now led to the Dolphins awarding Parker with a monster four-year, $40 million contract, ultimately sending the message that he’s their star receiver.

You may want to call Parker a late bloomer but following his career-best season, there’s no way the former Louisville star can ever be called a bust.

Now with a big contract, it’ll be up to Parker to show the rest of the NFL that 2019 wasn’t a fluke.