Miami Dolphins wide receiver DeVante Parker reportedly may not be ready for Week 1, which would put the offense in a bad spot.
Many have questioned the decisions that the Miami Dolphins have made this offseason, most notably showing wide receiver Jarvis Landry and defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh the door. For the offense, trading Landry comes on the heels of trading running back Jay Ajayi in the middle of last season.
The Dolphins have clearly been prioritizing culture under head coach Adam Gase when looking at these moves. By doing so, though, they’ve also put the pressure on players to step up. Ajayi’s departure ultimately handed the torch to Kenyan Drake. Meanwhile, Landry leaving seemingly put the onus on DeVante Parker to step up and be the No. 1 wide receiver he was drafted to be.
To this point in his career, Parker hasn’t lived up to being the 14th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. His career-high in receptions to this point came last year with only 57 while his best in receiving yards and touchdowns are just 744 and four, respectively. However, with Landry’s immense amount of targets now in Cleveland, those marks had the potential to balloon.
More importantly, the Dolphins were counting on that to be the case. Which is why the news concerning Parker heading into Miami’s Week 1 date with the Tennessee Titans is quite troublesome. He suffered a broken finger in training camp and, according to a report from Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald, may not be ready for the season-opener or even Week 2.
If that is indeed the case, Miami’s offense could be in trouble to start the season. They were already facing unknowns across the board. Drake has never been a feature back in the NFL, Ryan Tannehill was out all of last season recovering from a torn ACL and their receiving corps leaves a lot to be desired/has a lot to prove with Parker, Kenny Stills, Danny Amendola and Albert Wilson. Subtract Parker from that group, and things are even more dicey.
That’s not to say that the Dolphins will be completely incompetent without Parker. They could still show flashes from Drake and Tannehill should surely be better than what they endured with Jay Cutler last season. However, if you were hoping for Miami to shock a few people early on as a potential sleeper, that notion takes a hit if Parker isn’t on the field.