Back and Better Than Ever, DeVante Parker Looking Like a Top 2015 Draft Prospect

Just two games into his injury-shortened senior season, Louisville wide receiver DeVante Parker has already raised his stock as a projected first-round pick for the 2015 NFL draft.

After breaking the fifth metatarsal in his left foot during an August practice, Parker underwent surgery that forced him to miss Louisville’s first seven games this year.

He hasn’t shown any lingering effects of the injury or the missed time since returning to action. Instead, Parker is playing better football than he ever has before.

A player who frequently flashed big-play ability in each of his first three seasons at Louisville, but did not consistently produce at a top-tier level, Parker has displayed the skill set of a No. 1 NFL wideout in his play already as a senior.

In just two games played, Parker already has 17 receptions for 346 yards. He had the best game of his career to date last Thursday against Florida State, in which he caught nine passes for 214 yards while going up against one of college football’s elite teams.

Assuming Parker stays healthy, he will have the opportunity to play in four more regular-season games and a bowl game this year.

Should he continue to play at the high level at which he has performed thus far, there’s no reason he can’t challenge Alabama junior Amari Cooper and West Virginia senior Kevin White to be the first pass-catcher drafted come April.

Spectacular Ball Skills

One does not have to work too hard to find numerous examples of Parker hauling in spectacular grabs.

A natural hands-catcher who plucks the ball out of the air, high-points the ball well and has tremendous body control, Parker has a skill for reeling in receptions that are tough for anyone, even an NFL wideout, to make.

One of Parker’s most memorable catches came in the 2013 Sugar Bowl, when he was just a sophomore, as he beat Florida cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy to the end zone and hauled in an acrobatic 15-yard touchdown reception.

Skeptics might note that the catch above would not have counted as an NFL reception because he only got one foot in bounds, but it’s nonetheless an impressive display of his ability to contort his body and make a fully-extended grab.

Parker excels at spotting the ball in midair and having the ability to adjust his body to make a catch, even when it is contested by coverage. A great example of that came on the following 26-yard touchdown from Louisville’s Russell Athletic Bowl win last season against Miami.

Parker hasn’t had to make any catches with that degree of difficulty yet in 2014, but he’s looked as good as ever catching the ball, even when he has to work against coverage. One of the aesthetic catches he has already made this year was a 31-yard reception against Florida State cornerback and fellow potential first-round pick P.J. Williams.

Throughout his Louisville career, Parker has shown that he can make highlight-reel receptions and reward his quarterbacks for giving him chances to make plays.

Parker had some issues with drops early in his collegiate career, but he’s improved on those lapses. Considering the plays he can make with his hands, there’s no reason drops should be a significant issue for him going forward, as he has become a more experienced pass-catcher.

Physical Gifts

Parker might not measure up as the biggest or fastest wide receiver in predraft workouts, but he has more than enough size and speed to succeed as an NFL outside wideout.

Listed at 6’3” and 211 pounds by Louisville’s official athletics website, Parker is also reported to have an 80-inch wingspan, according to Mike Huguenin of NFL.com.

His height and length are a big factor in his ability to win contested-catch situations and catch passes out away from his body.

Parker has also been reported to run a 4.39-second 40-yard dash, according to Huguenin, but it would be somewhat surprising if he ran that fast at the NFL Scouting Combine.

While Parker is a fluid runner, he doesn’t stand out to be a burner.

He doesn’t exhibit a second gear downfield to enable himself to separate from a defensive back on a deep route when he fails to beat his opponent off the line of scrimmage. On overthrown deep balls, this can allow a defensive back to become the receiver on the play—and potentially make an interception—when he can keep a step in front of Parker.

That said, Parker does have enough alacrity to extend a play for a long gain when he has room to run. He made that immediately clear against Florida State last Thursday when he gained 71 yards on a catch-and-run on the opening play from scrimmage.

Parker won’t become famous for his lateral quickness or regularly making defenders miss in open space, but he has proven—especially in his pair of outings so far this year—to be a tough player to bring down once he gets going.

It appears that Parker has become stronger in his senior year, and he has been able to finish forward through tackles when running downfield. He’s also showing more ability than ever before to break free from contact and run away from missed tackles.

One particularly impressive example came against North Carolina State in his first game back this year. Parker caught a short pass, power spun through a tackle to free himself from one defender and maneuver outside away from another, then showed the balance of a ballerina as he tiptoed along the sideline to finish with a 22-yard conversion on a play that began in a 1st-and-20 situation.

Becoming a Star in the Intermediate Area

Despite being best known for his big plays, Parker’s bread and butter will be his ability to make plays in the intermediate passing game, an area where the receiver has shown vast improvement.

As demonstrated in the tweet below, Parker has effective, sudden footwork coming out of his stance that enables him to gain immediate separation from defensive backs on quick slants.

From slants and hitch routes to comebacks and curls, Parker’s improvement as a route-runner has been evident. Able to break rapidly with little to no wasted motion, Parker is, as Rotoworld’s Josh Norris described it, “so good at creating that sliver of separation” to get open.

It seems as though Parker, along with new Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino and offensive coordinator Garrick McGee, are increasingly understanding what the Cardinals star playmaker’s strengths are and how those can best be utilized.

One lingering area where scouts and coaches should seek and expect improvement is in Parker’s run blocking, a capacity in which he has regularly struggled despite his size. The aforementioned strength he has shown in breaking tackles should also be able to be translated to winning against defenders as a blocker.

Overall, however, Parker’s really starting to show refinement in his game and the polish to advance to the next level and continue the sudden trend of wide receivers becoming rookie sensations.

Comparing Parker with the Draft’s Other Top Wide Receivers

Much like the 2014 draft, which had five wide receivers selected in the first 28 picks and 12 off the board in the top 63, it looks as though the 2015 draft will also be loaded with early-round talents.

Individually, Parker has the talent of a top-20 selection. Whether he makes a run at going in the top 15, or perhaps falls into the late first round or out of it altogether, depends largely upon how he ends up comparing with the other notable wideouts in the draft class.

Amari Cooper remains the favorite to be the 2015 draft’s first pass-catcher selected, assuming he declares. Cooper is much more laterally agile than Parker, but Parker could be preferred in some circles because of height advantage over Cooper, who is listed at 6’1”.

Kevin White, at 6’3” and 210 pounds, has virtually identical listed measurables to those of Parker and is a similar prospect in many ways. White utilizes his size more effectively as a pass-catcher and blocker, but Parker is likely to test slightly better in regards to his athleticism, while he also has a more complete body of work than White, relatively unknown prior to this year.

Truly, there’s no clear-cut pick between those top three—all of them are performing at a high level and have well-rounded skill sets that make them capable of being immediate contributors in NFL offenses.

Further complicating matters are a number of other potential first-round picks who, if they enter the draft as juniors, can make a legitimate case for being one of the draft’s best pass-catchers.

Arizona State’s Jaelen Strong is another 6’3” wideout who has been highly productive and wins at the catch point with his size and ball skills.

Michigan's Devin Funchess, a converted tight end who stands at 6’5” but is also a very nimble athlete, might have the most mismatch-creating potential of any passing target eligible for the 2015 draft.

Auburn’s Sammie Coates has struggled to catch the ball consistently and run routes in his junior year, but he has explosive physical traits and as much deep playmaking ability as any wideout in college football.

There’s also USC’s Nelson Agholor, who lacks the size of the other top prospects but is a sharp route-runner who can dynamically create yardage in the open field both on offense and as a punt/kickoff-returner.

The battle to be the top receiver or simply among the top wideouts will rage not only throughout the remainder of the college football season but also into the NFL Scouting Combine and pro-day season.

How that battle will shake out remains to be seen. What should be clear is that Parker belongs near the top of the group, if not at it, should he remain healthy and continue to produce at a high level.

All GIFs were made at gfycat.com using videos from Draft Breakdown and YouTube.

Dan Hope is an NFL/NFL Draft Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow @Dan_Hope