They say that an elephant never forgets — apparently DeVante Parker doesn’t either. The Miami Dolphins wide receiver took a few years to fully breakout and live up to his potential as a No. 1 wide receiver in the NFL, but the former top-20 selection in the 2015 NFL Draft arrived in a big way in 2019 for Miami. Physical talent has never been the issue for Parker — durability and confidence seem to have been the biggest barriers for him living up to his potential.
In 2019, everything clicked. And now Parker seems poised to parlay his success and build upon the confidence he established last season.
Only a confident man would pull a receipt from two years ago — which is exactly what Parker did to Stephon Gilmore, the New England Patriots wide receiver who is the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
OHHHH 👀 We got a little IG beef between Devante Parker and glimore pic.twitter.com/hFBNvll2VV
— Kev 👑💯 (@KingxKDo) June 20, 2020
Of course, Parker got his money’s worth against Gilmore in the 2019 season finale, exploding for a big game as the Dolphins upended the Patriots in Foxborough to knock New England out of a first-round bye in the 2020 AFC Playoffs.
“Ignore him and attack the football,” seems to be about as clear and obvious a reference to Gilmore’s post on Instagram from May of 2018 as you could possibly make. And with 8 receptions for 137 yards (mostly coming against Gilmore in coverage) against the Patriots in his most recent game, Parker has earned the right to talk the talk. Mainly because he’s already walked the walk.
With the departure of Tom Brady from the AFC East this offseason, this divisional rivalry seems poised to heat up even more moving forward — and we are very much here for the ensuing fireworks that may come as a result.