Patriots WR DeVante Parker opens up about journey to NFL and those who helped him
FOXBORO — There was a winter chill in the air, but the 4-year-old wasn’t going to be denied a game of catch with his grandfather. That’s why the pair got creative and went inside their Louisville home.
These were rarely normal games of catch. The boy needed to dive for every reception, so Willie Parker took the action to the living room. That’s where the grandfather tossed the football and watched as his grandson jumped and corralled the ball in his arms before landing on the soft cushions of the family’s couch.
That was fine, but the boy wasn’t happy.
“I said, 'What's wrong,’ ” Parker recalled. “He said, ‘I don’t want to dive on the couch. I want to dive on the floor.’ Now, we have a tile floor. It’s not concrete, it’s tile, but it might as well be concrete.”
So they tried again. This time, the grandfather threw the ball and, after the boy dove, he landed on the cold, tile floor with the ball in his hands. Parker let out an "Ooo" before remarking that they should stop, but his grandson was as fearless as he was tough. The game continued until the boy was tired enough to move on.
Twenty-five years later, DeVante Parker approaches the game of football with the same mentality. His love for the game and the bond with his grandfather were molded during moments like those. Long before he caught passes in the NFL, the Patriots receiver’s first quarterback was the central father figure in his life and the man he calls "Dad."
“He means a lot to me,” DeVante Parker said. “Always there whenever I needed him, someone to talk to if anything happened and always [helped] keep my head straight.”
Entering his eighth NFL season and his first with the Patriots, DeVante Parker’s success has been aided by a close-knit family and a pair of mentors who stepped up when they were needed the most.
Parker found a father figure in his granddad
As Parker grew older, the games of catch became more complex.
One afternoon, his grandfather was trying to teach him the importance of catching the football with his hands as opposed to his body. He also wanted to see Parker plant his feet on the ground before running. To show why it was important, they had a cousin throw Parker the ball. When he caught it with his body, Willie Parker lightly pushed him from behind and he dropped the pass.
“Once you catch it with your hands, you can fall, but you’ve made the catch,” Willie Parker explained.
Those moments meant everything and it was more than just football.
Parker was 6 years old when he moved in with his grandparents, Willie and Yvonne. At the time, his mom, Raneca, was single and worked the third shift as a caregiver.
Willie Parker had lived in Louisville for most of his life and knew the city inside and out. The location of Raneca’s apartment made him nervous.
“He moved in with us because where she was living at the time, it wasn’t a safe area from my standpoint," said Parker, 74. "I know drug areas were kind of close."
A proud father of two daughters, Raneca and Tracy, Willie Parker thought of DeVante as the son he never had. It also gave him someone with whom to share his passion. Willie Parker had played high school football in Louisville and then briefly in college at Eastern Kentucky. Later, when he was working as an accountant, he officiated high school games on Friday nights.
Those games of catch meant everything to the proud grandfather. Before long, he went from being called "Paw-Paw" to simply "Dad."
It was only fitting. DeVante Parker’s father, former Louisville running back Anthony Shelman, was rarely in his son's life. The Parker family is fiercely loyal and Willie Parker never hesitated when he saw his grandson needed a male role model, so he stepped into that role.
“It was real big,” the younger Parker said of his grandfather. “It’s always good to have a father figure around, show you the right way to do things, what’s right, what’s wrong. I’m just blessed to have him in my life.”
As Parker grew older, it was clear that his abilities were special — as was the bond with his family. When college coaches contacted him, the budding receiver didn’t want to go on recruiting visits to the schools. The reason was simple — Parker was set on attending the University of Louisville to be near his family — so much so, that not even Alabama's Nick Saban could get Parker on the phone.
His family members didn’t know that Alabama had been interested until Parker's high school coach told them he found stacks of personal letters and information buried at the bottom of his locker.
“We found out after he was gone to Louisville and the coach cleaned his locker out,” Willie Parker said.
Parker received tough love at Louisville
When DeVante Parker arrived at Louisville, he was shy. When the team had an off day, he usually went home. There were even nights that he convinced his aunt Tracy to deliver food from White Castle to him on campus. His family would do anything for him.
The Parker family dynamic reminded Ron Dugans of his own. A standout receiver at Florida State who played four years with the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals, Dugans was Parker’s receivers coach at Louisville. He immediately saw the talent and decided to push Parker harder than others.
“They kind of spoiled him a little bit. I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to get that out of him,’ ” Dugans said. “He was used to being kind of babied. Knowing the love that they had for him, I knew I had to get that same love to him as well, so I kind of took him up under my wings.”
Parker had a father figure back home in his grandfather. At Louisville, he had another in Dugans.
Off the field, Parker wasn’t the type to go out at night or get in trouble. His family had laid a great foundation upon which for the coach could build. To turn him into an NFL athlete, Dugans aimed to make him tough and to play with more urgency. It was about tough love and that first year was hard. Dugans routinely laid into him any time he didn’t run full speed in practice. He was pushed to the limit on the field.
Dugans taught Parker how to position defenders at the top of his routes and the importance of quickly getting in and out of his breaks. Parker was big with great hands, but the coach wanted him to work harder to create separation. When the on-field teachings were over, they would go into a classroom where Dugans showed him recordings of bigger NFL receivers, such as Calvin Johnson and Julio Jones, to show him how they ran routes.
“When I first got there, my footwork wasn’t always there, but he coached me up and transformed me, really,” Parker said. “After him, I continued to grow and get better.”
A year later, as a sophomore, Parker was on a different level, finishing with 744 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns. He finished his collegiate career with a school record for career touchdown receptions at 33. The Miami Dolphins picked him at No. 14 in the 2015 NFL Draft.
“He’s a great kid," Dugans said. "He’s humble, never forgot who he was or how he was raised. His family laid a really good foundation for him. He's someone you don’t have to worry about. He’s just a great young man. I challenged him to come out of that shell.”
Parker's next chapter is in New England
The lessons from Willie Parker and Dugans can be observed over the course of Parker’s football journey.
A 6-foot-3-inch receiver, Parker often uses his body positioning to get up and catch the football high above the man covering him. This offseason, the Patriots traded a third-round pick to Miami because Parker can provide the type of deep threat the offense has lacked. He made several highlight-worthy catches in training camp.
“DeVante is a great player,” Patriots quarterback Mac Jones said last week. “Been around for a long time in the NFL and obviously we’re really happy to have him. He does a great job competing every day in practice. He’s a big physical receiver.”
Because of injuries and inconsistent quarterback play, Parker’s time with the Dolphins was up and down. Some of his potential was seen while playing with quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2019, when he finished with career-highs across the board — 72 receptions, 1,202 yards and nine touchdowns. Last weekend against the Dolphins, he made his Patriots debut, catching one pass for nine yards.
Willie Parker hopes to see the potential shown with Fitzpatrick emerge in New England this season. With every game played, his family is there either watching in person or on TV.
“He's really done more than I expected," Willie Parker said, "because, coming up, he's always talented, but what are the chances of making pro? He’s just been blessed, man. God’s really touched his life and allowed him to be successful at every level.”
Willie Parker was there for his grandson when he needed a father figure. Ron Dugans was there to help turn a teenager into a man. DeVante Parker’s the man he is today in part because of the foundation built beneath his cleats.