Derek
Parish.
Derek
Parish.
Houston· 6'1"· 241 lb
"Jacksonville used the 240th pick on a Houston edge rusher and told him to play fullback, which tells you exactly what the league thought of his tape and his body."Pre-draft read
Parish rushed with leverage and effort rather than length. He is built low and thick, so he wins under an offensive tackle's pads on the first step and converts speed to power in short areas, and his best games came in bunches: 4.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss against Texas Tech in 2022, a single afternoon that set two AAC records.
The problem is what happens when the first move fails. At 241 pounds he does not have the arm length or the counter package to work a second rush, and offensive linemen who got their hands on him ended the rep. Against the run he is willing and physical, but he gets caught inside bodies and can be sealed by a tackle with a size advantage.
Multiple front that can use a stand-up rusher on passing downs and hide him from double-team run responsibilities
Year 1: special teams core with a sub-package rush role; ceiling: rotational designated rusher
Two-gap or heavy 3-4 end responsibilities that ask him to hold the point against NFL tackles
Jacksonville drafted the fullback experiment instead of the rusher, and the rusher was the better player.
Houston's defense ran through Parish for two years, and the numbers came in spurts rather than in a steady line. He posted 54 tackles with 12 tackles for loss and five sacks in 2021, then opened 2022 with five sacks in four games, won FWAA National Defensive Player of the Week honors, and lost the rest of the season to injury. Add an 85-yard fumble return score in 2020 and you have a player who created events.
Scouts liked the motor and the production burst and were honest about the frame. He is a 6-1, 241-pound edge in a league that wants either 260 with length or 245 with elite bend, and Parish is neither. He was not invited to the Combine, worked out at Houston's pro day at defensive end, tight end, fullback and long snapper, and left the spring as a versatility bet rather than a position player.
That versatility is what got him drafted. Jacksonville took him 240th overall and immediately moved him to fullback, a job he had never held in a college game. The upside was a special teams core player who could handle a package snap on offense. The risk was obvious: a seventh-round pick learning a new position from scratch is fighting for a practice-squad spot, not a roster spot.
- 01
Explosive production bursts
4.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss in one 2022 game against Texas Tech, both AAC single-game records, plus national honors that week.
- 02
Leverage rusher
Built low and thick, he gets under a tackle's pads on the first step and converts speed to power without needing length.
- 03
Rare positional versatility
Worked out at defensive end, tight end, fullback and long snapper in the pre-draft process and looked competent at all four.
- 04
Relentless motor
Chases from the back side and finishes plays away from his gap, which is the trait that kept him employable in three leagues.
- 05
Special teams profile
The size, effort and willingness in contact translate directly to coverage units, the actual path for a pick this late.
- 01
Undersized for the edge
At 6-1 and roughly 241 pounds he lacks the length and mass NFL offensive tackles require a rusher to have.
- 02
No counter rush
When the first move is stopped he has little to go back to, and the rep ends the moment a lineman fits his hands.
- 03
Injury-shortened final year
Played only four games in 2022, cutting off the tape at the exact moment his evaluation was rising.
- 04
Position without a home
Drafted to play a fullback role he had never played in college, which meant starting his development from zero.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Houston | 8 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Houston | 14 | 54 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Houston | 4 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | — | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Only cfbstats-verified seasons are listed. Parish also appeared in 2018 and 2019, but those season lines could not be verified and are omitted rather than zero-filled. Forced fumbles, pass breakups and 2020 TFL/sack splits are likewise unverified.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Honors
- FWAA Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week (September 2022)
- AAC single-game records: 4.5 sacks, 6.5 tackles for loss (2022 vs. Texas Tech)
Undersized college producer whose NFL life is practice squads and special teams.
The version where the offensive conversion works and the versatility becomes a real job.
Athletic edge with no clean position who never gets a defined role.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Jacksonville drafted Parish 240th overall and converted him to fullback. He did not make the 53-man roster, signed to the Jaguars practice squad in August 2023, and never recorded an NFL regular-season snap. He moved to the CFL with Toronto, playing all 18 games in 2024 with 21 defensive tackles, five special teams tackles and six sacks, returned in 2025, and was released in January 2026. The UFL's DC Defenders signed him days later and played him on the defensive line.
The fullback conversion never took. Parish did not make Jacksonville's 53-man roster out of camp, signed to the practice squad at the end of August 2023, and finished his NFL career without a recorded regular-season snap. The league had already made its decision at the pro day: interesting athlete, no clear job.
He went and found one somewhere else. Toronto signed him and got exactly the player Houston had: in 2024 he played all 18 games for the Argonauts with 21 defensive tackles, five special teams tackles and six sacks, then returned for 2025 before Toronto released him in January 2026. The DC Defenders signed him days later and put him back on the defensive line, which is where he belonged the whole time. The honest read on the 2023 evaluation is that the position confusion cost him. Nobody in the NFL ever let him rush the passer. Somebody in the NFL should have let him try. The NFL simply never asked him the right question.