Fantasy Football: 4 Things We Learned From Week 2

DeVante Parker May Still be a Fantasy Force in 2016

The temptation for drafting DeVante Parker was clear. In his final six games in 2015, he pulled down 445 yards and reeled in 3 touchdown passes. His 0.98 Reception NEP per target was 4th out of 86 receivers who garnered at least 50 targets. His new coach, Adam Gase, had an affinity for X-receivers in previous positions as an offensive coordinator in Chicago and Denver. And his top comparable player from a measurables standpoint is A.J. Green.

All of that sounds awesome, right?

Unfortunately all was not well. As training camp progressed, Parker battled a hamstring injury that kept him out of practice for nearly a week. Then Kenny Stills went bonkers in the preseason. And to add insult to injury, Parker suffered another hamstring injury that resulted in his coach publicly calling him out for not doing "the little things" off the field to stay healthy.

Needless to say, the Parker-believer community had thinned its ranks significantly as the regular season neared.

But in his first game back, Parker picked up right where he left off in 2015, reeling in multiple contested catches to finish the day with an 8-catch, 106-yard stat line, all the while garnering 13 targets from Ryan Tannehill. Granted, the Dolphins were down by 24 points at halftime, so the sheer amount of targets he received was largely a function of game flow. But it is instructive that he and Jarvis Landry received the same amount of targets in this game, and it's likely a performance that keeps him on the field assuming he can stave off any injuries.

If Parker has already been written off by one of your leaguemates this year and dropped to waivers, grab him as soon as you can. He might actually pan out after all.