“I'm going to try to do the unthinkable”: An ecstatic, motivated and disrespected Will Parks is ready for his return with the Broncos

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — After his rookie contract expired with the Denver Broncos at the conclusion of the 2019 season, Will Parks went back to his hometown for a chance at a fairytale career with the Philadelphia Eagles.

That dream of a happy ever after with his childhood team didn’t even last a year as the fifth-year safety was released by the Eagles shortly after Week 12 of his first year back home.

But the fairytale turned nightmare had one more twist. As if it was a Hollywood script, Parks’ “second hometown team,” as he deemed the Denver Broncos, claimed him off waivers to bring him back to his home away from home.

“When I received the phone call from my agent that I was coming back to Denver I was like, ‘Oh snap!’ Excuse my language, but I said a whole lot more than that, you know what I mean,” Parks told the Denver media with enthusiasm on Wednesday, his first day back in the UCHealth Training Center in nearly a year. “It was just exciting to get the news.”

“Emotions are high and low,” Parks continued. “Obviously, I was home so I was closer to family for the first time in like the last eight or nine years or something like that. I definitely took advantage of that. Being released, whoever wants to be released from any team is kind of like a sign of them not wanting them or them not wanting to use you, so I kind of just use that as motivation.”

Despite being across the country and donning different colors for a few months, Parks never fully left the Broncos.

“I’ve been in communication with a lot of these guys all year,” he said about his Bronco teammates. “I never left the group chat. They never kicked me out of the group chat and stuff like that. They always send me little clips of my film from last year. Just that want to and that we need you kind of feeling, that’s awesome.”

Much like a Hollywood script that would be found in a Disney movie, Will’s first day back on the job was quite the welcome home.

“Von [Miller] just pulled up a picture, as soon as I walked in he was like, ‘Yo this is one of my memory banks.’ And it was a picture we took outside of the Houston game last year, Dec. 8, 2019,” Parks said, explaining his first few hours reunited with his teammates. “And seeing Chubb, ‘Yo what’s up Philly, Philly, Philly.’ And all the guys in the cafeteria clapping like a standing ovation. It’s pretty awesome. It’s pretty good man.”

Due to having to pass through nearly a week of the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols, Parks has had a week of being welcomed back by the Denver community before he even stepped on the field.

“My phone actually went dead the first day that everybody found out that they picked me up. My phone went completely dead. I’ve got two phones and the other was only like 10 percent,” Parks said in astonishment. “I was overwhelmed with it. I was happy. I was like, ‘Dang, I didn’t know people could miss you and love you like that.’ Love is pretty big in my heart, but for a fanbase like this one, to just continue to have that love, so as soon as they found out the news it was pretty awesome. I was ecstatic.”

“I’m just excited to play football. I haven’t really been playing as much this year,” Parks continued, turning his excitement into focus. “I feel like I have a whole lot to prove and a whole lot in the tank. That’s been my mindset and my focus. That excitement, that feeling in the locker room is actually helping me.”

Along with having the chance to go back home to Philly, Parks was also looking for an expanded opportunity on the football field. With Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson ahead of him on the depth chart, Parks knew he had a better shot at that outside of Denver.

“I was looking for a starting job. I was looking to make my presence felt in the league,” Parks said, explaining why he left the Broncos in free agency.” Just that want to be the No. 1 guy… My resume definitely speaks for itself that I can be that guy. That’s my attitude then and that’s my attitude now.”

Barring a miracle of the Broncos making the playoffs—which if it happens could be a Hollywood script of its own—Parks will have four games in Denver to show the NFL that he’s worthy of getting a starting job.

“I got a lot on my mind just as far as making plays. How many plays I can make, but doing it within the scheme and the way the defense is designed to be played,” Parks stated, detailing what he wants to accomplish. “I don’t know if y’all know, but I felt a little bit disrespected by a lot of people. I’m not taking nothing lightly. I’m not sparing nobody. All I want to do is go out there and show that I can help this team win in the best way possible, but at the same time I understand the fact that I’ve felt disrespected. I’m motivated to a level that I’ve never been motivated before.”

Despite six teams, including the Broncos, putting a claim on Parks when the Eagles cut him, the 26-year-old safety doesn’t believe the league respects the type of player he is nearly enough.

“I’m still on that side to where though I just don’t feel like people respect me enough in this league to give me a fair, fair, fair chance,” he stated. “Obviously the Broncos, they were the team that drafted me. The first team to give me that opportunity to change my life. And they brought me back here, so they gave me another opportunity. In these four games, I’m going to try to do the unthinkable.”

The Broncos are just as happy to have Parks back as he is to be back. On Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, the Broncos will be without their top two corners, A.J. Bouye and Bryce Callahan, and their young emerging nickel cornerback Essang Bassey. With the secondary thinning out week by week, Parks will have a role in Vic Fangio’s defense immediately.

“Everything that I was doing last year,” Parks said on what his role will be on defense. “My book is big so far—my notes are still all over the place. Obviously, with the guys going down and the stuff like that, I definitely got prepared for every position.”

Fangio said the versatile defensive back could play nickel, dime or safety, but will only play outside corner in an emergency.

“To be honest, I feel like I didn’t miss a beat,” Parks said about his easy recall of Fangio’s defense. “Obviously, there’s always going to be two or three wrinkles that a defense or a scheme has within themselves. But obviously the terminology factor kind of clicked in already—the plays and how we can still use the plays that are kind of clicking already. So, when that happens, that means that a lot of my recall information hasn’t really gone far at all.”

Will’s mission to earn some respect for his name begins on Sunday in Orange & Blue.