New England Patriots wide receiver DeVante Parker was thought to be the missing piece for the offense when he was acquired. However, he has not lived up to expectations to this point.
Parker only has one catch for nine yards, and that came in the team’s opener against the Miami Dolphins. It’s not as if he is getting a high volume of targets though, either. He only has four targets, and two of those have been interceptions in addition to the completion.
It’s clear that Jakobi Meyers has been the favorite receiver for Jones. The Patriots have also gotten good complementary play from wideout Nelson Agholor. The latter caught six catches for 110 yards in Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh.
It’s been clear who Jones has liked throwing to. The connection between the two receivers mentioned above and Jones has worked decently well. Nevertheless, it has made Parker sort of the odd man out, as he just has not been able to establish the same connection.
He has fewer receiving yards in the first two games of the season than N’Keal Harry had last season at this time.
Two games into his Patriots tenure, DeVante Parker has one catch for 9 yards. That's fewer than N'Keal Harry had in his first two games last season.
The connection between Mac Jones and New England's marquee offseason addition has yet to develop. https://t.co/nNOdqxcWqE pic.twitter.com/RdX2TPzwZG
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) September 19, 2022
The good news is it hasn’t deterred Parker from staying focused on the main goal, as he told Phil A. Perry of NBC Sports Boston after Sunday’s game.
“Nope,” he said. “I mean, hey, we’re winning. That’s all I really care about. I care about Ws. As long as we’re winning, I’m fine.”
Another argument could be that Parker is adjusting to a new offensive system. However, he doesn’t think that seems to be the case, either.
“No troubles with it,” he said. “Doing what they’re asking me to do. That’s all I can do.”
Whatever the case may be, there is no denying that Parker has not been a factor in the Patriots’ first two games. It’s still a long season, and hopefully, he can find his footing at some point.
