This is what you call a win-win proposition.
While he's in the midst of the best season of his career, DeVante Parker signed a four-year contract extension Friday that will keep him in a Dolphins uniform through the 2023 season.
For the Dolphins, the move secures a rising player who this season was able to fulfill his potential because he avoided the nagging injuries that had plagued him in his first four NFL seasons. Parker said it time and time again when he talked to reporters: All he needed to make a big impact on the Dolphins was to stay healthy.
And, make no mistake, Parker has made a big impact.
All he needs in the final three weeks of the 2019 regular season is to average 40 yards and he will have the first 1,000-yard receiving season of his career. Already, he's set a new career high for touchdown receptions with six.
Based on what we've seen in recent weeks, Parker also might be just getting started.
In the last three complete games he played, before he had to leave the Jets game last Sunday with a concussion, Parker set a new career high for receiving yards twice 鈥 first with 135 yards against Buffalo and then with 159 yards against Philadelphia.
That performance against the Eagles will go down as one of the greatest shows a Dolphins receiver has put on in quite some time.
Though "Mountaineer Shot" grabbed a lot of attention on that day, maybe the more significant story in the big picture was Parker flashing Pro Bowl talent with several contested catches, whether he was out-jumping defenders, high-pointing catches or simply spotting the ball quicker than the defender.
It was, simply put, a marvelous performance.
Parker has the talent of a true No. 1 receiver, pure and simple.
He will lead what has the makings of a very good wide receiver corps next season. The five leading receivers from this season 鈥 Parker, impressive rookie Preston Williams, Allen Hurns, Jakeem Grant and Albert Wilson 鈥 all are under contract through 2020.
Parker was under contract through 2020 before he signed his extension, though the Dolphins could have released him in the offseason and walked away saving $5 million of salary cap space.
That was the risk Parker took in the offseason when he agreed to restructure his contract when he was due $9.4 million on his fifth-year option.
The Dolphins, of course, had the option of rescinding the option and simply letting Parker become a free agent.
Parker admitted after his massive game against the Eagles that's kind of what he thought the Dolphins might do.
The Dolphins decided there was too much talent there to simply let Parker walk away.
So both sides compromised, agreeing to a new two-year deal with less of a financial burden on the Dolphins.
Nine months later, the Dolphins have more confidence than ever in Parker's playmaking ability and Parker has got himself a lucrative long-term deal.
Everybody wins.
