A pessimist might point out that this late into his career, Parker isn’t getting a ton of separation from opposing defensive backs and that’s not great. But an optimist might say that Parker’s ability to win 50-50 balls is something that has stood out throughout his nine-year career.
And even at 30 years old, Parker (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) was able to haul in 10 contested catches in 2023, according to ProFootballFocus. And his contested catch rate was higher than that of his new star teammates Brown and Smith:
“Just being able to find where the ball is,” Parker explained. “Usually, DBs don’t really have that good of coordination. Just have to do a good job timing my jump, making sure the timing is right, stuff like that.”
Because of all this, it shouldn’t be surprising to hear what stands out most for Parker when he watches Jalen Hurts play.
“His ball placement,” Parker said. “I’ve been saying that he puts the ball where it needs to be and wherever the receiver can go up and get it.”
Of course, before Hurts trusts Parker enough to throw up the football to him, the two will have to learn how to play together. Hurts has already welcomed Parker since the signing and the two will get to work together starting in OTAs in a couple months.
