DeVante Parker injury opens up fantasy opportunity with Dolphins

With DeVante Parker sidelined by a broken finger, how are the fantasy values of the other Miami Dolphins wide receivers impacted?

Through his first three NFL seasons, injuries and inconsistency have plagued Miami Dolphins wide receiver DeVante Parker. Last year could qualify as a mulligan, with quarterback Ryan Tannehill (torn ACL) missing the entire season, but Parker still missed three games and delivered dismal numbers in what was tabbed as a potential breakout season (57 receptions for 670 yards and one touchdown).

The trade of Jarvis Landry to the Cleveland Browns, 161 targets and a 27.5 percent share of Miami’s passing game targets from last year are gone. Danny Amendola was signed to fill the slot role Landry vacated, and Albert Wilson was also added in free agency to fill some of that void.

Parker reportedly got off to a slow start in training camp, then he did not practice on Monday due to what was reported as a hand injury. On Tuesday, clarity on the injury came.

Dolphins head coach Adam Gase said Parker is considered week-to-week with a broken right middle finger, and he can’t catch the ball right now. Seeing as catching is a pretty critical part of his job, hope that Parker will be ready for Week 1 could quickly turn into real doubt.

The Dolphins have good wide receiver depth. Amendola’s role out of the slot seems pretty stable, and not impacted greatly by Parker one way or another. But Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson are in line for more opportunities if the former first-round pick misses regular season games.

It seems odd to pay someone the way Miami paid Wilson (three years, $24 million; nearly $14.5 million guaranteed) and not have a clear role for him. But that’s where they were at the start of camp, with more recent indications of a variable role including work out of the backfield.

Wilson is pretty much off the reservation in average draft position right now, as WR90 on Fantasy Pros.com. But if Parker is eventually on track to be sidelined for meaningful games, Wilson might edge into being draftable in deeper leagues.

Stills finished as WR28 in ESPN fantasy leagues last year (default PPR scoring), and 15 of his 100 catches over the last two seasons have gone for touchdowns. But he currently sits with an ADP of WR52 in PPR and standard scoring (via Fantasy Football Calculator). An ankle injury that has kept him out of practice recently is worth noting, but Stills is still criminally overlooked in fantasy circles.

Parker is still draftable right now, and his ADP currently has him tabbed as a WR4 in 12-team leagues. But a cloudy situation for him in the pecking order for targets is now further clouded by an injury, and Parker may fall behind very quickly while he’s sidelined.