There are strong rumors that the Miami Dolphins are going to trade DeVante Parker after the Tyreek Hill acquisition, and the Tennessee Titans need to be in on these trade talks.
Would Jon Robinson really trade for two veteran wide receivers in one offseason? Honestly, I think he would.
With Robinson, it is all about value and it is hard to argue that Parker isn’t the perfect buy-low candidate.
Compare the Parker situation to the Robert Woods situation. Both players are only on the trade block because the team decided to chase a potential WR1 in Tyreek Hill and Allen Robinson respectively.
Both players are in their late 20s and have a lower trade value because it has been years since they put up “great” numbers, specifically Parker last passed 1,000 yards in 2019, same thing for Woods.
Most importantly, both players are cheap. By the time the Tennessee Titans officially traded for Woods, he only counted $10 million against the cap compared to the $16 million that people originally assumed. Parker is less consistent, but he costs half as much with cap hits of less than $7 million in each of the next two seasons.
Why would a trade make sense for Parker and the Tennessee Titans?
Just like Robert Woods, Parker is in a situation where the league knows he is on the trade block so he probably won’t cost a high draft pick.
Again, like Woods, Parker is in the stage of his career where being on a good team is important because joining a rebuild would cost at least two seasons. Joining a team like the Titans that already has three real receiving threats (A.J. Brown, Woods, and Austin Hooper) as well as a Hall of Fame running back, must be appealing.
Despite playing in an Adam Gase offense, DeVante Parker had two of his three most efficient seasons when he was playing with Ryan Tannehill as his quarterback.
In their first two seasons together, Parker had 9.9 yards per target in 2015 and 8.6 yards per target in 2016. For reference, the only other time in his career where he had more than 7.7 yards per target was in 2019, so that is a large enough sample size to see the connection.
In a deal, Parker would get to be on a great team with an easy path to the playoffs and he would get to work with someone who has gotten the best out of him in the past.
For the Titans, this move would be a game-changer because if Tennessee is able to sign or trade for another very talented receiver, the first round of the draft becomes much more interesting. While the expectation is that it has to be a receiver, this deal would lock up Woods and Parker for the next two seasons and A.J. Brown isn’t going anywhere.
So, that means that grabbing the BPA is an actual possibility at 26, which could mean a potential Pro Bowl offensive lineman like Zion Johnson or Tyler Linderbaum. Wide receiver would still be addressed in the draft, but it would happen outside of the first round.
There are several teams interested in a deal for Parker, so the odds that a move happens are slim, but a trade would have massive implications for the rest of the Titans offseason and it would even affect offseason decisions in the coming years.