Miami Dolphins WR DeVante Parker will look to rebound after a bit of a down year following his breakout of 2019. Below, we look at Parker’s 2021 fantasy football average draft position (ADP) and where you should draft him.
Parker recorded his first 1,000-yard season in 2019, playing a full 16-game schedule for the first time in his six-year NFL career, while posting bests of 72 receptions, 128 targets, 1,202 receiving yards and nine scores.
Unfortunately for fantasy managers, who believed he was going to build upon that success, he had a bit of a backslide in 2020. Perhaps it was partially due to the fact both Ryan Fitzpatrick and rookie Tua Tagovailoa were under center, and the rookie struggled at times in the passing game.
If Tagovailoa is better, and Parker can manage to stay on the field for what is now a 17-game schedule, career highs could be right around the corner for Parker.
Parker’s ADP: 139.85
(ADP data courtesy of MyFantasyLeague.com)
Fantasy managers haven’t been terribly trusting of Parker as he has been going off the board as the 74th wide receiver during early summer drafts. That means he is in the neighborhood of a WR6 in leagues of 12 or more teams, or basically a fantasy reserve.
Instead, fantasy managers are looking to rookie Jaylen Waddle (average pick – 65.12), hoping for a little Alabama Crimson Tide magic between the first-year wideout and his former college QB.
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Parker’s 2020 stats
Receiving: 63 receptions (103 targets) for 793 yards
Touchdowns: 4 receiving
Fumbles: 1 (0 lost)
Where should you take Parker in your fantasy football draft?
Parker has had issues with his hamstrings stunting his growth early on in his NFL career. He stayed healthy in 2019 and showed why he was the No. 14 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft by the Dolphins. He finally has started to live up to his potential.
Perhaps last season a backslide can be attributed to COVID-19 and a strange offseason program that kept him from developing a rapport with Tua. He’ll have a full training camp and preseason to get on the same page, but now he has to battle Waddle for targets, and you know Tagovailoa is going to be more comfortable with a guy he already knows well from college. Don’t forget that Will Fuller IV is also in the mix, while Lynn Bowden Jr. and Preston Williams showed glimpses of brilliance in 2020.
There are a lot of mouths to feed in South Florida, so Parker could be in line for another rather erratic season with big games followed by disappearances on other weeks. Fantasy managers would be well to avoid Parker until at least Round 11 at the earliest. Personally, I’d rather have him be someone else’s problem as he is just too inconsistent with a propensity for nagging ailments.
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