Ron Parker embodies the workmanlike success of the Chiefs

Jamaal Charles is the ultimate current Chief, a transcendent star who will be celebrated in Chiefs lore for generations to come.

Alex Smith and Justin Houston stand atop a tier of essential Chiefs, players so fundamental that the season could be jeopardized without them.

But when it comes to what explains these Chiefs, who beat Super Bowl champion Seattle 24-20 on Sunday for their seventh win in eight games, maybe the guy who best embodies them is cornerback Ron Parker … an everyman’s everyman.

The NFL is all about its superstars, of course. But it’s also built on the far more common stories of the intrepid likes of Parker, who just … keep … going when every sign blinks otherwise.

“Just keep playing ball,” he says. “Live for the next play.”

How else could he be here, leading the Chiefs with 11 tackles as they moved into a first-place tie with Denver in the AFC West?

This is a man, after all, who was discarded eight times by three NFL teams, including five different times by the Seahawks.

This is a man who treasures this all the more because it was so elusive and such a long time coming.

And because he gets to do it for (and in a way, with) his twin brother, Don, whose injuries in a car accident years ago ended his football career.

“I can kind of see it in Don’s eyes: He would shed tears just to be here,” said Parker, who said he feels like they are “exactly the same person” and added: “We’ve just got this bond. I’m just trying to do it for him. I just want to make him happy.”

Even as he girded himself for Don’s postgame critique over the telephone, even though he knows nothing is to be taken for granted even now, Parker is living proof of the considerable powers of persistence and adaptability and resilience.

He’s testimony to the virtues of looking toward what’s next instead of lingering in a moment.

If that’s a trite concept in some ways, it also isn’t a bad notion to live by.

Fundamental, in Parker’s case.

A microcosm of that was on display Sunday in a game that started with him being scorched twice on Seattle’s first touchdown drive.

It ended with him being congratulated and surrounded by former Seahawks teammates he still considers brothers.

“Man, it’s everything you can dream of right here; this is everything I dream of. I was waiting on this day for a long time …,” he said. “A lot of guys came up to me and showed me a lot of respect and just told me how much they miss me and how good a job I’m doing over here and just keep up the good work. …

“They’re just happy I found a home.”

Parker clearly was moved by this, especially because it harkened not just to being signed by the Seahawks out of Newberry (S.C.) College in 2011 but the jagged journey from there to now.

“It just means so much to have their respect, because they all saw where I started from: I was at the bottom of the barrel when I started over there,” he said. “Nobody really knew who Ron Parker was. Those guys understand what it took.”

For that matter, even since he joined the Chiefs after being waived by the Seahawks last season, there have been times it was less than certain Parker had what it took.

But he also never retreated, earning coach Andy Reid’s respect as one of the hardest-working players he has, and his game has prospered by being moved to safety in the wake of Eric Berry’s injury in September.

That was Parker’s more natural position, but it also paved the way to improvement at cornerback when Berry returned.

The move helped Parker improve overall field awareness and develop confidence he never had before at the professional level.

All of which is no assurance of anything, as Parker promptly was reminded Sunday.

On what became an 86-yard Seattle touchdown drive to tie the game 7-7, Parker was flagged for illegal use of hands on an apparent sack by Justin Houston that would have put the Seahawks in a fourth-and-22 bind.

Instead, they had first and 10 at the Kansas City 31.

“To be honest, I really didn’t know that call was on me until I got to the sideline,” said Parker, recalling looking at the official “like, really, did you call that on me?

“I felt I had good defense on the wide receiver, but it is what it is.”

Four plays later, that morphed into a 7-yard touchdown pass from Russell Wilson to Doug Baldwin, who had broken away from Parker in the end zone.

“I had a bad drive or whatever,” Parker said.

The “whatever” wasn’t meant dismissively. Like what … ever.

But it also was a telling term, because it reflects what Parker knows as well or better than anyone.

It’s always about what comes next.

“I don’t really mope too much,” he said.

Parker learned that a long time ago, maybe never more poignantly than after his brother’s accident their junior year at Beaufort (S.C.) High.

“Out of nowhere” one day at basketball practice, Ron Parker’s back flared up.

“It was weird, kind of like, ‘Why is my back hurting?’ ” he recalled.

On his way home, he learned why. He drove by the aftermath of an accident: his brother being put in an ambulance with his back broken in three places.

“It’s a crazy situation, twins,” he said. “We can feel everything.”

Don eventually recovered, well enough to be able to play baseball.

As for the football part, well, he’s about as much inside his brother’s head as his brother himself.

So Ron had a sense of what he’d hear from Don on Sunday night.

“He’ll probably tell me I’ve got to do a better job of covering on that (first) drive,” he said, smiling.

His brother’s voice is part of what ensures Parker will be just as motivated by the good times as the rough, that even upon some sense of arrival he’ll be living for the next play.

“I’m going to play my heart out every play,” he said. “That’s what you’re going to get out of me. Every play. Every day. Every down.”

This story was originally published November 16, 2014 at 8:44 PM with the headline "Ron Parker embodies the workmanlike success of the Chiefs."