Louisville's DeVante Parker generally is considered the No. 3 wide receiver available in the 2015 NFL Draft, behind Kevin White and Amari Cooper, and he seems to be a first-round lock.
Parker was the main attraction Wednesday at Louisville's pro day, although he elected to stand on his 40-yard dash time from the NFL Scouting Combine (4.45). Parker did participate in the positional-drills portion of Wednesday's workout, which drew 80 NFL representatives, including Bill Belichick, Mike Tomlin and Marvin Lewis, according to the school's Twitter account. While Parker would appeal to all three of those coaches, their teams probably pick too late in the first round to get him. Parker told the Louisville Courier-Journal that he already has had meetings with four other teams.
Coincidentally, the four teams have draft picks in the No. 11 to No. 17 range, which is right around Parker's range of draft projections: the Vikings pick 11th, the Dolphins pick 14th, the 49ers pick 15th, and the Chargers pick 17th. Not so coincidentally, each of those teams could use a guy who has the skill set to be a No. 1 receiver.
Minnesota might be especially intriguing to Parker, who teamed with Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater at Louisville for three seasons. Those two were part of a monster signing class in 2011 for the Cardinals. Also in that class were 2014 first-round pick Calvin Pryor and 2015 draft prospects Jamon Brown, B.J. DuBose, Charles Gaines, Gerod Holliman, Lorenzo Mauldin, John Miller and Deiontrez Mount.
Parker (6-foot-2 5/8, 209 pounds) is a big receiver who runs well, clocking a 4.45 in the 40 at the combine, with an impressive unofficial 10-yard split of 1.56 seconds. He missed the first six games in 2014 with a foot injury, but caught 43 passes for seven TDs (and averaged 19.9 yards per catch) in the final seven games. His leaping ability (36.5-inch vertical leap) combined with long arms (33 1/4 inches) and his height gives him an impressive catch radius.
NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah has Parker as the No. 9 player available in the draft. All four NFL Media analysts who have done mock drafts -- Jeremiah, Bucky Brooks, Charles Davis and Lance Zierlein -- have Parker as a first-round pick, and they each have him going in the 12th to 18th range.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
