DeVante Parker is on the other side of 30, which doesn’t make him an overly attractive candidate in free agency.
The Philadelphia Eagles saw something they liked and signed him to a one-year contract shortly after free agency began on March 13. Perhaps it was the money. They only have to pay him $1.2 million on a $4.7M deal because his previous team, the New England Patriots, is picking up the rest of the tab.
Parker, 31, met with reporters at the Eagles facility on Monday.
“As long as you take care of your body and do what you’re supposed to, stretches, massages, whatever it is, as long as you take care of your body you keep going for as long as you need to,” he said when asked about what he has left to give.
This will be his 10th season after being picked 14th overall by the Miami Dolphins in 2015. It was the same draft in which the Eagles landed Nelson Agholor six picks later.
Like that year, the Eagles once again need pass-catchers. After A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, it figures to be an open competition to be No. 3, with another player or two who could arrive in next month’s draft capable of competing for snaps.
Barring injury, they won’t need him too much on the outside with Brown and Smith employed there, and a third-receiver role has never really developed the past couple of years with Zach Pascal two years ago and Olamide Zaccheaus last year.
That was Nick Sirianni’s offense, though.
This year, it is supposed to be the “Philadelphia Eagles” offense, according to Sirianni, though offensive coordinator Kellen Moore’s should have a heavy imprint on it.
Parker has played in 119 games in his nine-year career. Only one was against the Eagles, but what a game it was.
It came in 2019 when he was with the Dolphins. He caught seven passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns in the Dolphins 37-31 win in Week 13. That Eagles loss put them in a win-out mode to make the playoffs, which they did, winning their final four, all against the NFC East to get in.
It was also the best year of Parker’s career. He finished with 72 receptions for 1,202 yards and nine touchdowns. It was his only season above 1,000 yards and the only season he played 16 games.
“I think it was just me being on the field more,” he said. “I was healthier that season, I didn’t have any injuries that year. That was the biggest part of it, just being healthy.”
It’s hard to imagine Parker being on the field much this season. He is mostly an outside receiver, though he said he has played some slot and will play where the Eagles need him.
“I’m just coming in looking to bring whatever I can to help the team out,” he said. “Whatever I can do, whatever they ask me to do is what I’m going to do.
“I’m just coming in when it’s time to arrive and put the work in,” he said, “when it’s time to go.”
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