‘Phins up for DeVante Parker
Ryan Tannehill’s injury won’t help the Dolphins’ season as a whole, but Parker should benefit from the addition of Jay Cutler at quarterback.

“I got a lot of things I got to process. … I just want to get to this next meeting, figure out where the dinner room is, and then we will start learning the offense and some guys’ names.”
I’m pretty sure Adam Gase’s offense will be significantly easier for Cutler to learn than the majority of his Dolphins’ teammates names. Actually, that’s an objective fact given their history together. Given Cutler’s experience with Gase as the offensive coordinator in Chicago, his well-known nonchalant attitude regarding being in the spotlight as a professional athlete, and his age, there’s reason to believe that a lot of Cutler’s initial interactions in the Miami locker room will look like a famous interaction he had with a fan at a urinal in Chicago. For those who don’t know that story:
At a trendy sushi restaurant in Chicago during the off-season, a guy goes to the bathroom and sees Jay Cutler, hat on backwards, at the urinal. So the guy starts going to the bathroom next to him and says:
“Hey, Jay I also went to Vanderbilt, we might know some of the same people…”
Jay cuts him off mid-sentence with: “DOOOONNNNTTTTTT CAAAAAARRRREEEEEE.”
In his decade-plus among the ranks of professional quarterbacks, Cutler has always had the reputation of being aloof, selfish, and having a general demeanor that could be described as ‘not giving a single fuck’. Rolling Stone even ran a piece in 2015 called ’12 Times Jay Cutler Didn’t Give a F-ck’.
He has also built a reputation for being one of the biggest gunslingers of this millennium. Both his interception numbers and completion percentage for passes twenty yards or longer will show this to be true.
In his move from the broadcast booth (did he ever actually get into a broadcast booth?) to the practice fields in Davie, FL, Cutler provides the Dolphins with what I consider to be a lateral move from Ryan Tannehill (should he opt to have season-ending surgery) and an upgrade from back-up Matt Moore (who is more than likely suffering from CTE at the age of 33 after last years first-round playoff match-up with the Steelers). The Dolphins may not be a better team after the transactions of the past week, but if anyone is going to show significant improvement due to the acquisition of Cutler (and if there’s anyone’s name the new QB should make sure he knows), it’s DeVante Parker.
Parker, the third year wide receiver out of Louisville, is at what most would consider to be a ‘make-or-break’ point in his career. When you’re taken 14th overall in a draft class that saw Pro Bowlers Melvin Gordon and Marcus Peters go in the 4th picks after you, the expectations for your immediate production are going to be high. That’s been the exact case with Parker, but unfortunately, injuries have riddled both him and his surrounding cast on Miami’s offense.

In his two-year NFL career, Parker has already had injuries to a variety of appendages. Since his rookie preseason debut, Parker has had fractures and issues with scar tissue in his right foot, multiple strains and pulls of his left hamstring, and has sprained areas of his lower back. The Dolphins knew of the risk of injury to Parker prior to drafting him (he also had issues with his AC joint and foot fractures while at Louisville), but when evaluating his potential prior to entering the league, it’s easy to see why they took the risk. Parker’s pre-draft measureables and statistics were through the roof, and when matched with his tape, show a player with potential to be a top-15 receiver in the league. One of the most astounding stats about Parker is he was credited with only three drops throughout the duration of his time as an NCAA wide receiver. Those hands, combined with an amazing ability to control his body, a 4.45 forty-yard dash, thirty-seven inch vertical leap, and a 6'3" 210 lb frame, make for (in theory) a solid split end receiver.
Unfortunately for Parker, those numbers haven’t gotten the chance to lead to production at the professional level….yet. In 2015 (rookie season), Parker saw the third most targets on the team behind Jarvis Landry (110 catches on 165 targets) and Rishard Matthews (43 catches on 61 targets). The rookie was able to bring in just under 51% of the balls thrown his way (26 catches on 51 targets) during the only full year with Ryan Tannehill that he’s had as a professional. This past year, even with the Dolphins’ heavier reliance on the run game due to the emergence of Jay Ajayi, Parker’s targets rose to second on the team behind only Landry. During the 2016 season, Parker caught 62% of the passes thrown to him (56 catches on 90 targets) while seeing a nearly 50% increase in the targets from the Tannehill/Matt Moore combo.
In year three, the combination of a clean bill of health, the addition of Jay Cutler, and the Dolphins’ current WR depth chart should provide DeVante Parker every opportunity to improve and make the jump to the next level. The biggest of these though, is the addition of Jay Cutler. While I’m not here to make the claim that Jay Cutler fresh off multiple months of sitting on his couch and ripping darts is going to be better for the success of the Dolphins organization than Ryan Tannehill would be, I am here to say that Cutler will be a step up for DeVante Parker.
Per Pro Football Focus, Parker achieved most of his success at the short-to-intermediate level in 2016 as 42 of his 88 targets came on either slants, hitches, ins or outs with an average depth of target of 8.3 yards. In my opinion, this has much more to do with Ryan Tannehill’s arm strength than it does Parker’s ability to go deep.
In the below video, watch Parker consistently beat his defender off the line, get stacked on top of him, and then have to come back to the ball to turn what should’ve been a routine play into a spectacular one:

Parker has a Moss-ian ability to leap over defenders and get the ball, but his ability to get separation in man coverage is the reason the pairing with Cutler will thrive. In 2015, which was Cutler’s last full season as a starter, he was 10th in the league in deep ball completion percentage throwing to a receiving corps that consisting of an oft-injured Alshon Jeffrey, Eddie Royal, and Marquess Wilson. For comparison, Ryan Tannehill ranked 18th in 2015, and 15th in 2016 in the same statistic.
Cutler will be stepping into an offense that had the ninth-best rushing attack in professional football last year, which should open up the ability to utilize play action, keep the defense in the box, and allow for the potential to throw the ball deep frequently in Adam Gase’s offense.
Dan Durkin of CBS Chicago ran an analysis of how Gase’s offense would translate to Chicago from Denver, and the same concept provides a great example of how Parker should be able to take a step up to the next level this year:

In this scenario, the Broncos number one receiver is lined up in the X-position and runs a clear-out to open up the left side of the field…essentially a dummy route. Pretend this is Jarvis Landry. The tight end is lined up in the middle of the three receiver set on the left side off the line and runs deep to clear the free safety out of the middle of the field. This works best if the TE is an incredibly athletic deep threat like Julius Thomas was here for the Broncos. Luckily, the very same Julius Thomas is now the starting tight end for the Dolphins. The third receiver here is on the line and running a deep crossing pattern, which is now covered by a linebacker due to the mismatches created across the line.

This is where DeVante Parker should be able to flourish due to the significant upgrade in arm strength from Tannehill to the newly-acquired Jay Cutler.
Over the past two seasons, Parker has shown a tremendous amount of potential. He hasn’t quite put up the elite numbers that were expected from his draft position, but each year has been a step in the right direction. Parker will need to use 2017 to prove to the Dolphins that he can be the player they drafted him to be, otherwise he could see his fifth-year option declined. Luckily, Smokin’ Jay Cutler and his gunslinger mentality are here to make the difference, and not a minute too soon.