The Dolphins were desperately looking to unload Dannelle Ellerbe and his $8.425 million dollar contract, and they finally made it a reality. They just traded him and their third-round pick to the New Orleans Saints for wide receiver Kenny Stills, the 2nd year pro out of Oklahoma.
Most football gambling fans would agree that the Dolphins are happy that they were able to get something for Ellerbe, however, throwing in a valuable third-round pick at the time seemed just a bit too generous on the Dolphins’ side. Well to be fair, in the big picture the Dolphins have in essence traded Mike Wallace(a trade that had to be done), a third and seventh-round pick for Stills and a fifth-rounder, which is better than nothing, but the success of this move is contingent upon whether or not Stills can be equal to Wallace in terms of production(which is hard to say), but he definitely is superior in terms of attitude and price. Don’t get me wrong, I do think that Stills has plenty of upsides. Stills is very young and has been quite productive in his first two seasons in the league with a total of 95 catches for 1,572 yards and 8 touchdowns. He is a quick, and tough receiver and will definitely be an upgrade over both Hartline and Gibson.
The biggest thing that Stills can bring to the table is his ability to gain yards after the catch. In 2013 he had a 20 yard per catch average, and in 2014 he had a 14.8 yards per catch average. Both averages would have led the Dolphins in yards per catch in each of the aforementioned seasons. It is clear that Miami is aware that they lacked the chunk yardage plays on offense last season and the signing of both Cameron and Stills reflects Miami’s goal to improve that.
The only thing that bothers me about this trade is that we gave up a third and 7th round pick to get Stills and a 5th rounder. This upcoming draft is well known as being a very deep receiving draft, so it is a bit bothersome that they didn’t decide to keep their third-round pick and draft a premium wide receiver talent rather. Clearly the Dolphins’ thinking is that Stills is still very young and that next year he will be better than any receiver in the draft that they could select in the third round. I can not totally disagree with this philosophy, considering Stills has at least been a consistent producer in the NFL, and there is no guarantee that a rookie in the 3rd round will be able to produce right away. Also, I do like his toughness, which is another trait that Miami clearly is focusing on acquiring this off-season. What does the rest of Miami Dolphins news circles think about this trade?