New England Patriots wide receiver labeled biggest bust candidate for 2023
By Devin Hurst
After a summer of limited moves to the roster, New England Patriots fans are unsurprisingly riding high heading into the 2023-2024 NFL season.
With new offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien in town, there is optimism within the fan base that this season could be an improved year for the team they root for in Foxboro.
But that's not the case for those outside New England.
In a recent article by Bleacher Report's Alex Ballentine, believes that former Miami Dolphin DeVante Parker may be letting them down this upcoming season.
In the piece, Ballentine predicted "Every NFL Team's Biggest Bust of the 2023 Season." When discussing what player that would be for the Patriots, he, unfortunately, chose the veteran receiver as the biggest bust for this upcoming season.
One of the few moves the Patriots made this offseason was extending Parker on a multi-year extension.
The immediate thoughts were that this move was signaling subsequent other moves to the roster, such as adding DeAndre Hopkins or Dalvin Cook, but we are approaching training camp and have yet to see the ripple effect of this extension.
Sources: The #Patriots & WR DeVante Parker reached an agreement on a 3-year new contract worth up to $33M. The deal, done by Parker’s long-time agent and owner of Management One Jimmy Gould, also includes $14M in guarantees and per-game roster bonuses. Parker finds a home in NE. pic.twitter.com/0aEUVhZedU
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 28, 2023
Last season Parker put up pedestrian numbers, to say the least.
During his 2022-2023 campaign, Parker collected 31 receptions for 539 receiving yards. That is part of why many people outside the building found this extension puzzling.
For this season, the extension freed up just over two million in cap space, but going forward it may put the Patriots' front office in a bind if they would like to move on from the 30-year-old receiver.
This is especially the case if second-round draft pick Tyquan Thornton takes the leap Patriots brass, media, and fans are expecting him to take in his second year.
Ultimately, the extension isn't the end of the world, either way you look at it.
This season it opens up a small amount of cap space that the Patriots' front office can use to fill out the back end of the roster. On the other side of the coin, if they wanted to cut ties with the veteran receiver, they could after the 2024 season with only a 1.5 million dollar dead cap charge.