The pro’s and con’s of the Miami Dolphins re-signing Kenny Stills

If someone would have told you that Kenny Stills would finish the season with more than twice as many receiving touchdowns as any other Miami Dolphins wide receiver, there’s a very slim chance that you’d be listening to someone you can ever take seriously.

However, that person who we all would have doubted before the season would have been right as Stills recorded a team-high nine receiving touchdowns while Jarvis Landry, DeVante Parker and Dion Sims all tied for second-most with four each.

Along with Stills impressive touchdown total was his 17.3 yards per catch that ranked third in the entire NFL as he finished the 2016 season with 726-yards on 42 receptions.

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As an impending free agent, these are the two numbers that Stills and his agent will focus on when attempting to land the enticing first contract after your rookie deal which he is due for starting in 2017.

While his nine touchdowns and 17.3 yards per catch are impressive, one additional bonus to a player like Stills is the fact that he will be just 25 years old next season, so you are getting a unique player in the very early stages of his prime.

What makes Stills unique is obviously his speed. Stills has the ability to get behind defenses – as shown often in 2016 recording 10 catches of 20 yards or more – which allows Miami the opportunity of the deep pass or also opening up the rest of the field for Miami’s playmakers if a safety is forced to travel with Stills.

This playmaking ability is what the Dolphins hoped they were getting in Mike Wallace, but Wallace ended up being used more as a glorified possession receiver instead of as a way to stretch the field and create opportunities for others. The trio of Stills, Parker and Landry seems like a very logical way for the Dolphins to move forward in regards to the wide receiver position.

Stills is the burner who can stretch the field and command additional safety help for long and intermediate passes. Parker is a big-bodied receiver who can be a red zone threat but also has unique size and speed combination to be a dominant Number One wide receiver in the NFL if he can stay healthy and put it all together; and Jarvis Landry is the perfect slot receiver who can go over the middle and create after the catch.

Here’s the bad news; Miami is going to have to pay in order to keep this trio intact.

Stills is a free agent, Landry has another year left on his rookie deal – although based on several reports after the season it sounds like Landry may be the first receiver to get locked up by the Dolphins – and Parker is still on his rookie contract but will soon be in line to see his first big contract.

Landry is going to be paid, very well, and by the way free agency has gone in the past in regards to the receiver position, it’s very likely that Stills will fetch more than he’s probably worth. But based on his team-leading nine touchdowns and 17.3 yards per catch, there’s going to be a team out there who is willing to pay for the soon-to-be 25-year-old pass catcher.

Another tricky aspect to signing Stills is the fact that Miami just used a third-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft on Leonte Carroo. A player that the Dolphins front office envisioned taking Stills’ spot in 2017.

However, Carroo hardly saw any action his rookie year finishing with just three catches for 29 yards and a touchdown which is quite a drop from what Stills was able to produce in 2016.

Carroo also projects to be more like Landry at receiver than he does Stills as he doesn’t possess the unique breakaway speed to beat defenses over the top. He is much better suited to catch balls in traffic and make plays after the catch like Landry.

With that being said, it’s hard to determine if Miami will fork over the money to Stills to keep him around and try to build on the success they had in 2016. It also seems unlikely that Stillw would take a discount to stay with the Dolphins considering the fact he wasn’t drafted by the team and isn’t from the area with connections to Miami.

And let’s be real – he’s a soon-to-be 25-year-old who is about to cash in on what could possibly be his biggest contract of his career; I don’t see any hometown discounts this time around.

It will be interesting to see how the Dolphins handle this situation, and there are positives and negatives to both keeping him and letting him walk, but the one certainty is the fact that the 2016 season made Stills a very rich man.

READ MORE: Miami needs to add offensive line depth in free agency

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