When Devante Parker was ruled inactive Sunday against the Detroit Lions, the first thought that crossed my mind was the Miami Dolphins must have a trade in place and don’t want to take the chance of him getting hurt. This happens all the time every year in baseball around the trade deadline. Teams have conversations about players and when they get serious they keep players out in case of injury, so no one backs out of a deal. Frankly the Dolphins should explore their options with Parker because he has been a 1st round bust. He’s always hurt and when he is on the field, he’s not making an impact with any consistency. Last week against the Chicago Bears, he didn’t even try to make a play on the ball to prevent an interception to keep a drive going before the end of the first half. He didn’t have a good training camp even before his broken finger and it seems it would be best for all parties to cut their losses and move on.
However, on Sunday wide receivers Albert Wilson and Kenny Stills got hurt. Wilson it sounds like could be done for the season while Stills could miss a couple of weeks. With the trade deadline coming October 30th, the Dolphins have a tough decision to make do you trade Parker and get something in return for him or play out the season with the wide receivers down with injuries hoping to get something out of Parker to salvage his time with the Dolphins? The season is teetering on the brink of ruin with the injuries piling up and the Dolphins are running short of play makers, so the team is in a tough spot. The frustrating part is Parker has the talent but can’t get on the field or motivate himself to play to his potential.
Personally, I feel the Dolphins should trade him only if they can get a 3rd round pick or better. It just seems silly to give away a player for a late round pick. There are teams that could use a receiver and if they really want one to help them the second half of the season they will be willing to pay the price. The Dallas Cowboys just traded a 1st round pick to the Oakland Raiders for Amari Cooper and he has been a disappointment since being drafted in the top 5 in 2015, the same year as Parker. If the Cowboys are willing to do that, then I’m sure another receiver needy team might give up at least a 2nd round pick. That would be very tempting if a team offered that and I would jump on it otherwise I would just ride out the season with Parker. The only risk is he has a season ending injury and the Dolphins could be stuck with that 5th year option next year that pay him $9 million which protects him from injury. It’s a tough call and the Dolphins are in the spot of damned if I do and damned if I don’t.
