What do the Redskins Have in Donald Parham?

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July 28, 2019

by Steve Thomas

I have to be honest: when the Redskins signed former Stetson University tight end Donald Parham on June 7 after tryouts, I didn’t really think much of it.  A new tight end from a small school on coming into a position group loaded with All Pro, big money guys, draft choices, and other undrafted free agents from last year?  My reaction was essentially, “yeah, Parham.  Okay.  He’ll be gone after training camp at the latest.”  Well, folks, I’m here to tell you that if things break right for Parham, he has a real chance of beating out some folks for a practice squad spot, at a least, with the possibility of a real NFL career.  Before you say, “Huh?”, allow me to explain.

I originally spent some time studying Parham three weeks ago in preparation for The Hog Sty’s tight end position group breakdown show, and posted this innocent comment on The Hog Sty’s Twitter feed:

As it turns out, a fair number of people either agreed with me or were at least intrigued.  One person in particular (you know who you are) called me out, pointing out the likelihood that I would end up writing about Parham.  Well, you were right, random Twitter person.  This one’s for you.

Background

Parham, who hails from Lakeland, Florida, stands 6’8”, weighs 237 pounds, and has arms that measure 37 1/8 inches in length.  He spent four years at Stetson, becoming the Hatters’ most dangerous weapon.  Parham’s cumulative statistics during his time at Stetson are impressive: 34 games played, 180 receptions, 2,591 yards, 14.4 yards per reception, and 20 touchdowns.  His year by year breakdown is as follows:

2015: 4 gms, 0 rec, 0 yds

2016: 11 gms, 37 rec, 455 yds, 12.3 yds/rec, 6 TDs

2017:10 gms, 58 rec, 817 yds, 14.1 yds/rec, 1 TD

2018: 9 gms, 85 rec, 1,319 yds, 15.5 yds/rec, 13 TDs

As you can see, Parham exploded in his senior year.   Stetson, which is a Division I-AA school in the Pioneer Football League, became a much better team in 2018, with an 8 – 2 record, than in prior years (2 – 9 in 2017; 4 – 7 in 2016), and Parham’s numbers no doubt are both a cause and effect of the team’s improved play.  His 2018 season was good enough to earn him consensus FCS All-American honors and an invitation to the Senior Bowl, where he really began to catch the attention of scouts and NFL teams.  He has impressive measurables for a player of his size: he reportedly ran the 40 yard dash in the high 4.6 second range, with a 38.5 inch vertical leap at his pro day.

What does his film show?

As I always say for these columns, I’m not a professional scout, so don’t take my observations as gospel.  This is written from my perspective as someone who loves football, wasn’t good enough to play at anything more than a lower level, but watches alot of film.  #notascout.  ‘Nuff said.

The most important problem with trying to study Donald Parham is that Stetson University just doesn’t have many complete game broadcasts available to study on the interwebs (read: any).  The only game I was able to find was the Hatters’ game against Sacred Heart from September 2, 2017, and that appears to be Sacred Heart’s in-house video, not a TV broadcast. Stetson lost this game 42 – 3, got dominated at the line of scrimmage and thus it wasn’t very useful in terms of this analysis.  So, my study is limited to that game plus a Parham highlight reel and various Stetson highlight packages from 2018 games.  This definitely limited my ability to give this player a complete evaluation, but I can still give you a decent look at who Donald Parham is.

In summary, Parham is a physical marvel who knows how to use his natural skills to his benefit, and those skills can translate to the NFL in a big way if given time to develop.  He is unafraid of going into the teeth of the defense in the middle of the field, and does a good job of using his enormous frame to shield the defender when in the act of catching the ball.  That having been said, he does need work on some technical aspects of his game.  Also, Parham has a slight build by NFL tight end standards.  He looks more like an NBA small forward than an NFL tight end.  Based on the limited film available to me, it does not appear that Parham has much experience as an in-line blocker; considering his body type and skills, I didn’t expect that, anyway.  At Stetson, he did occasionally line up in the traditional tight end spot to the outside of the tackle on run plays, but being a plus-level NFL blocker very likely isn’t his destiny.  Parham generally spent most of his time working out of the slot.  Let’s get into it.

Parham is a big play guy

Parham was Stetson’s big play guy in 2018.  Here are two plays that show him at his best:

The first play is from the Hatters’ 2018 game against Morehead, and the second is from the 2018 Valpariso game.  In both plays, Parham is lined up in the slot (right side in play #1; left side in play #2).  In play #1, he simply runs straight down the field into the end zone on a short fly route and high points the ball in double coverage for a touchdown.  In the second play, Parham runs a short 5 yard out route, then once again goes up to high point the ball in double coverage for the reception.  The key in the Valpariso play is that he then shows off his speed and runs away from the entire right side of the defense for a 55 yard touchdown.

Parham is too tall, can jump out of the gym, has an insanely large catch radius, and natural hands. Understanding that there isn’t a ton of film available, I did not note any instances in the 2017 Sacred Heart game of Parham either having bad drops or letting the ball get into his body.  He’s a mismatch if put in the right situation, even in the NFL.

Parham can get YAC in bunches

Parham’s size and speed allows him to both break tackles and then run away from defenses; plus, he’s more agile than you might think for someone who’s 6’8”.  Watch these two example plays:

In both of these plays (first against Morehead; second against Valpariso), Parham is lined up in the slot.  In the Morehead play, he only has a small window where the ball could be caught, and actually has three defenders around him.  The quarterback knows Parham and is thus unafraid to still get the ball to him in this situation.  Post-catch, he splits two defenders and runs away from the rest of the defense for a 70 yard gain.

Parham is again in the slot in the second play against Valpariso.  He runs a very simple route straight down the field, catches the ball 15 yards downfield, uses his agility to evade one defender, then turns on the afterburners to run away from everyone for a 55 yard touchdown.

Parham is a very unique combination of physical traits, and he uses them to his advantage on a regular basis.

Parham is the ultimate end zone target

One thing we all know that Redskins head coach Jay Gruden loves is the end zone fade pattern.  Unfortunately for him, the Redskins have had a chronic lack of receivers who are well suited to this play.  That’s not the case for Parham – in fact, he’s a classic, textbook end zone target.  Here are two examples, the first play being from the 2017 game against Sacred Heart and the second against Valpariso in 2018:

In the first play, Parham is lined up in the slot to the right (the inside receiver).  He runs a fade route to the corner of the end zone (look familiar?).  The quarterback has some pressure in his face and misses the throw, but the point is that Parham’s physical stature, catch radius, and ability to high point the ball makes him perfect for this route.

In the second play, Parham runs a simple crossing route in the back of the end zone.  He does a good job of creating space by using his hands to slightly push off the rear defender, and at that point represents a gigantic, open, and somewhat unstoppable target in the end zone.  Touchdown, Stetson.

Gruden and the Redskins offense can make good use of a player like this in goal line situations.

Parham is a quality outlet valve

Donald is more than just the sum of his measurables.  He also has a natural sense of how to get open, which isn’t something that’s easily taught.  Watch this play from Stetson’s 2018 game against Davidson:

In this play, Parham is lined up in the offensive left slot.  The broadcast camera angle makes it difficult to see what pattern Parham runs, but it begins with a slant to the outside.  The play breaks down when the quarterback feels pressure from his left side and extends the play by rolling out of the pocket to his right.  At that point, Parham comes back and sits in the soft part of the coverage, and the quarterback (who appears to be looking for him the entire time) spots Parham in the middle of the field and is able to get the ball to him for a big gain due to yet another quality run after the catch.  Thanks to his size and skills, Parham can be a perfect outlet value on these sorts of busted plays.

Negatives

No player is perfect, and Parham of course has his share of negatives like anyone else.  To start with, his route running is very basic and not crisp, and his footwork is almost nonexistent by NFL standards.  Watch these two example plays, both from the Morehead St. game:

In the first play, Parham is in the slot on the left side.  He runs a simple 10 yard square in pattern, and actually gets a good result with 15 yards after the catch.  Watch his break inside, though: he significantly rounds off his pattern rather than making a clean, crisp break at a 90 degree angle or close to it.  His break is less of a true football break and more a case of him just changing direction.  He demonstrates no footwork of any significance on this play.

The second play is actually a touchdown, so it’s a good result.  Parham runs a basic post pattern out of the slot from the left side.  Watch his footwork at the time he makes his break.  He doesn’t chop his feet and doesn’t make any sort of a jab step to speak of prior to breaking inside.  It’s pretty unlikely that this kind of route running is going to fool NFL-quality defensive backs.  However, Parham does turn on the jets after the catch to run away from the defender to score the touchdown, so it was a successful rep; regardless it’s a good example of something Parham needs to work on with the Redskins.

The good news is that Parham is naturally athletic enough to get better at his route running with NFL coaching, but it will most likely take time.

In addition, as I said above, Parham has a very thing body type.  He may be vulnerable to getting outmuscled by linebackers and safeties at the NFL level.

He is also going to need time to adjust to the Redskins’ offense; in particular, his routes at Stetson were fairly basic – fly patterns, square in, square out, slant, post – and he’ll need to learn significantly more than that in Washington.

I was not overly impressed by his film in the 2017 Sacred Heart game, but (a) the entire game was a slaughter, with Stetson getting beaten badly in every phase, and (b) the 2018 team was generally a much better squad than 2017, so it probably isn’t fair to put too much stock into this one game, which, again,  was the only one I could find.  That having been said, I thought Parham appeared to be loafing a bit at times during this contest.

Finally, while Parham dominated his competition in 2018, the opposition in the Pioneer Football League isn’t close to being at an NFL level.  He does have good speed considering how big he is, but isn’t going to be able to just run away from NFL defensive backs on a routine basis like he did at Stetson, and he’s probably not going to get separation coming out of his breaks without improved technique. Of course, when you’re 6’8″ and have a 38.5 inch vertical, you don’t need a ton of separation.

Conclusion

So who is Donald Parham?  A legit sleeper pick to make the roster, that’s what.  He’s a player with an immense number of natural gifts who can in time become a successful NFL player.  Parham has a very high ceiling.  His combination of incredible height, huge, unmatched catch radius, and leaping ability can work in the NFL.  Those sorts of skills are rare. I haven’t done any research into this, but off the top of my head, I’d guess that his catch radius is one of the largest in the NFL.  Parham appears to have thoroughly outplayed the competition at Stetson.  As I said above, he needs work on his footwork and route running, and he’ll need time to learn the complexities of an NFL offense, but those things can all come in time.  Finally, in my view, Parham is essentially more of an enormous slot receiver rather than an NFL tight end. His body just isn’t one that will probably do well when blocking NFL defensive ends.  His chances may be hurt by virtue of him probably not being ideally suited to a special teams role.

All in all, though, I’m very excited about Donald Parham’s presence on the Redskins roster. He has quite a bit of competition ahead of him, either as a tight end or as a wide receiver, if that’s what the Redskins end up doing with him, but this is a player who can be of great value if the team is patient and gives him time to develop.  He has great potential, and with a creative play designer like Jay Gruden at the helm, he might just be able to add a whole new dimension to the Redskins offense.