New England Patriots Land DeVante Parker In AFC East Trade With Miami Dolphins

DeVante Parker will run his next routes on the other side of the AFC East.

The New England Patriots have acquired the 29-year-old wide receiver from the Miami Dolphins, as first reported Saturday by NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport and ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

As part of the trade, New England will send a 2023 third-round draft pick to Miami in exchange for a 2022 fifth-round draft pick.

Parker appeared in ten games last season while working through shoulder and hamstring issues that resulted in a stint on injured reserve. He finished with 40 receptions for 515 yards and two touchdowns on 73 targets.

Two years remain on the contract that New England will inherit. Both years include $100,000 workout bonuses and $500,000 in per-game roster bonuses for Parker, who is scheduled to carry a $5.65 million base salary in 2022 and a $5.7 million base salary in 2023.

The Louisville product entered the NFL in the first round of the 2015 draft at No. 14 overall. His Dolphins tenure brought 338 catches for 4,727 yards and 24 touchdowns through 93 games and 64 starts.

A career-high 72 catches for 1,202 yards and nine trips to the end zone arrived in 2019, giving way to an extension that carried $30.5 million in new money.

The Patriots faced Parker on a dozen occasions over that span. He eclipsed the century mark three times while crossing paths with cornerbacks ranging from former NFL Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore to reigning Pro Bowler J.C. Jackson.

“He’s got a very, very good skillset,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said of Parker leading up to a 2020 divisional meeting. “He’s a big athlete that runs well. Has good hands, good run-after-the-catch ability and good quickness for his size. So, he presents a lot of problems on deep balls. He’s a big target on the end of routes, in-cuts and crossing routes, things like that. He’s strong and can break tackles as a catcher or run player, so he attacks all three levels of the defense and can be productive at all three spots.”

Parker played 86.2% of his offensive snaps on the boundary last campaign and averaged 2.7 yards after the catch per reception, per Pro Football Focus. His longest play gained 42 yards versus the Indianapolis Colts on a high-pointing scramble drill down the right sideline.

But with speed an emphasis under new head coach Mike McDaniel, Miami’s acquisition of Tyreek Hill, signing of Cedrick Wilson and development of Jaylen Waddle factored into Parker’s exit after seven seasons.

In New England, the 6-foot-3, 219-pound Parker will contend to be the top outside target for sophomore quarterback Mac Jones. He joins a depth chart featuring receiving leader Jakobi Meyers, veterans Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne, as well as N’Keal Harry, Ty Montomery, Kristian Wilkerson, Tre Nixon and Malcolm Perry.

Both Agholor and Bourne signed with the Patriots as unrestricted free agents last March. Their upcoming cap numbers respectively stand at $14.882 million and $6.416 million, according to OverTheCap.com, while Meyers is due $3.986 million after being tendered at the second-round restricted level.

New England and Miami have now agreed upon five trades since 2000. The previous saw wideout Isaiah Ford moved at the league’s November deadline two years ago.