In the months leading up to the 2017 season, one of the popular talking points around the Dolphins was that wide receiver DeVante Parker was going to have a huge year in the Miami offense.
That’s been one of many things not to come to fruition for the Dolphins this year. Parker missed three games with an ankle injury and his 30 catches for 378 yards and a touchdown don’t represent any big leap over what he’s done in the past.
Dolphins offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen was one of the people talking up Parker in the offseason, but now he thinks Parker is missing the edge he had when everyone was predicting big things.
“He doesn’t have the edge that he had coming out of training camp,” Christensen said, via the Miami Herald. “But I do think that sometimes with those guys who are speed guys and outside guys you get a nagging thing and you just don’t feel 100 percent. I’d say that that is the reason. There’s still seven more games. We talked about it this morning. We have to get him right back to that level. He still could do some great things before this year is over and he could make it into a heck of a season.”
Optimism in the face of disappointing results has been the theme of the week in Miami and Sunday’s game against the 3-6 Buccaneers provides a pretty good opportunity to show that there’s actually something behind the words this time around.