My major concern with Devante Parker back in the day was that he did not seem to put in the work to either develop his craft or prep himself for a full season grind. The question was not talent, but rather ability to hone that talent. Like thebeast has said - this is his first year showing that he can, but it was never a question of whether it was possible. Some players just take longer to learn what is needed - and not all of them get the opportunities.thebeast wrote: ↑Wed Jan 01, 2020 11:30 amIt wasn’t really an argument, it was more to say that Gordon was fools gold because it was obvious that he was unfortunately never going to be able to stay in the field despite his talent, and it was just in response to the other poster calling Parker fools gold, not comparing Parker to Gordon.Jigga94 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 01, 2020 8:59 amI don't get your argument. Josh Gordon couldn't stay on the field. But had one of the best seasons ever when he did play. Now your argument is Parker was never on the field but now that he had one good season he's a WR1? I don't get it.
5th year breakout on a trash team that was always playing behind with a gunslinger QB on a team with minimal other receiving options. Sounds like the perfect situation to me. Not saying Parker is bad by any means though. They signed him to a decent deal so he should be a part of their plans moving forward. But WR1? Not buying it
If you have watched a healthy Parker this year you saw a dominant WR who was beating man coverage week after week and a guy who played to the potential of his predraft scouting reports. This was just first year of really being healthy. I think his future production is tied to his health, which is by no means certain, but his talent is that of a WR1.
Parker is a great example of why you can keep betting on draft capital because that does give you more opportunities to succeed. Once he has, it seems just as probable he will maintain as it is that he will not. So I would not consider him fools gold - rather a player to keep an eye on and make sure that this is the new norm - the off-season should provide clues to that. That is in part what I think the main takeaway from this thread should be - that history shows us that eventually the odds will reward a certain percentage of the 1st round draft picks with 1k seasons. Parker has now shown he is back on track and it is up to us to pay attention to the signs as to what happens next.