Update: No update. lol... Antwan V. Staley @antwanstaley Gase says he doesn't have an update on WR DeVante Parker 10:59 AM - Oct 11, 2017
Bust? As I recall he played in 16 games last season and had 744 yards and 4 TDs and this season, and he hasn't missed a game this year and is currently 2nd on the team in catches.
Parker's not a bust, but he's definitely underperforming relative to expectations of being a #1 WR. The receiving stat most correlated with a WR getting into the HoF is total TD's and Parker totally underperforms there, having only 4 last year while top performers had 10+ (and Stills had 9). Even other stats he underperforms relative to most true #1 WR's and even to other WR's on our team. For example, 744 total yards isn't that much (rank #54 in 2016) and Landry got way more at 1136, YPR is decent at 13.3 and tied for 43rd best in 2016 but Stills had 17.3 YPR and was 3rd overall, and a catch percentage of 64.4% in 2016 puts him at #101 overall if you include RB's and at #71 overall if you exclude RB's but Sims (74.3%) and Landry (71.8%) were better. Parker's a good WR when healthy (and complements Landry and Stills nicely), but he's not yet living up to expectations.
This, I agree with. He can't throw it to himself, nor make his QB grow a pair. I really think with a QB who with some heart, he'd be having a fantastic season.
Call him what you will, but once he went down hurt last week I think we all let out a collective sigh of despair. He's the only guy on the team that can put six on the board on any given play with a simple jump ball, and our entire offensive dynamic changed once he was down. We need him back ASAP.
Kenny Stills being wasted is the unspoken big story here. That's our 'burner' and he might as well just be jerkin' it out there for all the good it does him to run routes.