Fantasy Football: Kenny Stills Loses Value Staying With Dolphins
By Dan Thomas
There was speculation Kenny Stills was going to leave Miami in free agency. Instead, he re-signed with the Dolphins and weakened his fantasy football stock.
It was NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport who first reported wide receiver Kenny Stills re-signed with the Dolphins on a four-year contract worth $32 million and with $20 million guaranteed. It was rumored Stills could have seen offers of $12 million annually on the open market. Instead, he took less to stay in Miami. In real life, this is a good move for the Dolphins.
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They brought back Stills on a discount one season after he finished with 42 receptions, 726 receiving yards and a career-high nine touchdowns. The former Oklahoma Sooner will only turn 25-years old this April and possesses top-end speed. Yet in the fantasy football world, this move significantly hurts his value.
Stills had the opportunity to go a team where he could’ve been the clear-cut No. 2 option in the passing. That is something he has not had in his entire NFL career whether he was playing in New Orleans or in Miami. Leaving Miami would have given him a better chance of reaching his fantasy football ceiling. Heading into 2017, it appears he’ll once again have to fight for targets.
In each of the last two seasons, wide receiver Jarvis Landry has led the Dolphins in targets and receptions by a wide margin.
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In 2016, he finished with 131 targets and 94 receptions. Wide receiver DeVante Parker finished second on the team in both those categories but had 44 less targets and 38 less receptions than Landry. In 2015, Landry finished with 166 targets and 110 receptions. Tight end Jordan Cameron was second on the team in targets, but had 96 fewer than Landry. Running back Lamar Miller was second on the team in receptions, but had 63 fewer than Landry.
Here’s a not-so bold prediction for 2017: Quarterback Ryan Tannehill will continue to feed his favorite weapon Jarvis Landry. As a result, he will once again lead the Dolphins in both targets and receptions. This wouldn’t be so bad for Stills if he was the obvious No. 2 option in the passing game but he’s not.
As mentioned before, the Dolphins 2015 first-round pick DeVante Parker was second on the team in both targets and receptions in 2016. There’s no reason to believe Parker won’t be just as involved in the offense if not more if he can manage to stay healthy. To make matters worse for Stills, the Jacksonville Jaguars traded receiving tight end Julius Thomas to the Dolphins.
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During the 2013-2014 seasons, Thomas caught 24 touchdowns in 27 games while he was in Denver. In case you didn’t know, his offense coordinator during those two seasons was Adam Gase, who is now the head coach of the Dolphins. Adding Thomas to the Dolphins offense means there’s now one more mouth to feed in their passing game.
Right now it’s hard to envision Stills as anything more than a boom-or-bust WR3/4 and will be hard-pressed to catch nine touchdowns like he did last season.