Brian Flores provides updates on Will Fuller, DeVante Parker
If Dolphins’ quarterback Tua Tagovailoa wants to have a breakout season in 2021, he would love to have wide receivers Will Fuller and DeVante Parker back in the rotation. Luckily for him, both players seem to be trending in the right direction.
“We are going to get those guys back as soon as we can. We have two preseason games left and then there’s two weeks….we have time to get timing together,” said Dolphins’ head coach Brian Flores, per the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Omar Kelly.
Kelly added commentary from quarterback Tagovailoa as well.
“Only time can tell, whenever those guys are available and get back in action; it just takes practice. Practice to get communication and chemistry with one another,” Tagovailoa said.
Fuller injured his foot during the second day of training camp. He signed a one-year, $10.6 million contract with the Dolphins in March after five years in Houston.
Parker, who has been with the Dolphins since they selected him in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft, was removed from the Physically Unable to Perform list on Aug. 2 after missing the first week of camp due to a soft-tissue injury. He has been participating in practice.
The Dolphins were also without wide receivers Albert Wilson and Allen Hurts on Saturday in a 20-13 loss to the Chicago Bears in their first game of the preseason. Miami hosts the Falcons on Saturday and travels to Cincinnati to face the Bengals for their final preseason game on Sunday, Aug. 29.
The former first-round picks are not strangers to injury
The full list of NFL injuries these wideouts have had is almost too crazy to be true.
In 2016, Fuller had hamstring and knee problems. In 2017, he broke his collarbone and cracked his ribs in different incidents. Fuller tore his ACL in 2018. In 2019, he missed games due to a strained hamstring and a groin injury. Additionally, Fuller missed time in 2020 for PED issues. When he is healthy, Fuller is one of the league’s top big-play receivers. Prior to the PED suspension in 2020, he averaged 16.6 yards per reception and had eight touchdowns through 11 games.
Parker broke a screw in his foot in 2015, had hamstring problems in 2016, an ankle sprain in 2017 and a finger fracture and quad strain in 2018. Last December he strained his hamstring. Parker is also a very explosive receiver, having averaged 16.7 yards per reception with nine touchdowns in 2019.