A tale of wide receivers: Will Dolphins sign Stills? What offseason moves must be made | Opinion
Even with a clear need for a fast wide receiver — a need the Miami Dolphins have had for some time but is now glowing in neon because of injuries — coach Brian Flores on Monday wanted nothing to do with the idea of bringing back speedy receiver Kenny Stills.
“That’s more of a Chris Grier question,” Flores said, passing the hot potato topic to Miami’s general manager, knowing full well Grier will not speak on the subject because he hasn’t spoken to the media since the April draft.
“He and [Vice President of Football Administration] Brandon [Shore] and [Assistant General Manager] Marvin [Allen], they handle all that and those conversations,” Flores continued, naming two more members of the Dolphins hierarchy who have never spoken publicly with reporters.
And this: Those conversations, Flores said, “they’re obviously internal if and when they happen.”
So no official clarity on the idea of adding free agent and former receiver Kenny Stills.
But you should know the chances of the Dolphins adding Stills at this stage in the season are remote.
First, the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols make Stills helping Miami in Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots unlikely because he’d have to agree to come to Miami, then submit to the league’s six-day entry process during which he must be tested and pass multiple coronavirus tests.
Secondly, although Stills went through training camp last season with Flores as the head coach, he doesn’t know the Miami offense because that’s Chan Gailey’s scheme now and Stills learned the Chad O’Shea offense when he was with Miami last year.
Finally, Stills and Flores didn’t exactly part on what seemed like awesome terms. This is according to Stills himself.
So this doesn’t seem like a likely direction the Dolphins are going to go.
That is, of course, only a short-term possibility.
But long-term, in the offseason and in preparation for the 2021 season, the Dolphins will definitely be searching for help at wide receiver.
And they better be.
The obvious reason for this is the Dolphins might have finally come to the realization that one cannot fill the wide receiver room with players with injury histories and then expect them to remain healthy.
That lesson was obvious to some folks before the season. And now it has manifested as a hard learned fact during this season.
Consider:
Dolphins starter Preston Williams missed much of his rookie season because he suffered an ACL injury. And now he’s missed five games so far this season with a foot injury.
Allen Hurns and Albert Wilson both had significant injuries in their career history. And they opted out of the season before training camp.
Jakeem Grant has struggled to finish seasons, going to the injured reserve list in late November each of the past two years. This year he made it through the first game of December but left Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury and is reportedly unlikely to play Sunday against the New England Patriots.
The Dolphins also found out Sunday what life is like without DeVante Parker, their No. 1 wide receiver. He suffered a leg injury in the first half and did not return to the game.
And although Parker is expected to practice some this week and play against the Patriots, he’s obviously not at 100 percent as the season draws to an end.
All this is a cautionary tale that should scream to the Dolphins that they need wide receiver help this offseason and they need guys who are durable.
But here’s the thing: They don’t need one guy. They need to invest in at least two receivers — a veteran and a rookie, so that both can be part of significant improvement of the wide receiver corps for years to come.
And now you’re scratching your head because you don’t understand why the Dolphins need two receivers and why they should be looking for a one who is a proven veteran and the other a highly drafted rookie.
The draft part is obvious. The Dolphins need to invest one of their four draft picks in the draft’s first two rounds on a receiver with significant talent that they can develop into a star as his salary remains relatively manageable.
That would be good for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in his second season as the Miami starting quarterback because he can eventually develop a long and prosperous bond with that young, higher talent, lower cost receiver.
So who?
Some candidates: Alabama’s DeVonta Smith, LSU’s JaMarr Chase, Minnesota’s Rashod Bateman, Ohio State’s Chris Olave, or Alabama’s Jaylen Waddle.
Smith and Chase — not necessarily in that order — are the best in the group but I like Smith the best because he has seriously stepped up this year despite an injury to Waddle and dominated. Chase opted out of the season.
Waddle, by the way, has the speed the other two may not have, but he has been out with an ankle injury, and there are other issues that might drop him from the top of the first round.
Interestingly, the Dolphins didn’t address the receiver spot early in a 2020 draft that offered perhaps the deepest wide receiver class in a decade. So this coming year they might have to go fishing quite early to find an elite talent because the ‘21 class is thinner and weighed down by more uncertainty.
And now you’re asking if the Dolphins are going to address the receiver situation in the draft, why do they need to also go into free agency?
Because a rookie wide receiver is going to take some time to grow. He’s going to need perhaps a year to develop.
But the Dolphins are playing in 2021. So they need a veteran to help Tagovailoa immediately, in 2021.
They need a receiver who can help bring along a young quarterback instead of needing the young quarterback to bring him along.
Think of this as the Buffalo Bills approach.
The Bills have young Josh Allen developing into a very good quarterback. But it wasn’t until this year when they paid a first-round pick in exchange for Stefon Diggs that Allen blossomed into the 28-touchdown, 3,641-yard quarterback he is through 13 games.
So the Dolphins would be wise to also go shopping for a veteran wide receiver.
Chicago’s Allen Robinson would be amazing. Tampa Bay’s Chris Godwin is unsigned for next year. JuJu Smith-Schuster and Kenny Golladay are unsigned for next season.
Some considerations: Robinson is going to be very expensive. Smith-Schuster is likely going to be available because the Steelers don’t typically pay their wide receivers. Also, I believe Pittsburgh doesn’t use him correctly because he can be a much better downfield threat than what he currently is allowed to show.
I’d probably stay away from Golladay because he’s out with a hip injury and had a hamstring injury before that and didn’t you just read about the Dolphins collecting receivers with injury histories?
Let me leave you with these factoids:
The Dolphins will not have a dynamic offense, regardless of how well Tagovailoa develops, unless they surround him with dynamic players. It’s as simple as that.
The Dolphins played the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday and the difference in the approach to helping the quarterbacks was stark between the two teams. Understand that the Chiefs have perhaps the best quarterback in the NFL right now.
And still they’ve given him a riches of playmakers to help.
The Dolphins hope Tagovailoa develops into the best quarterback in the game. But they have to give him a riches of playmakers to help if that’s going to happen.
And, by the way, I’m not kidding about riches.
The Chiefs, you should know, went to Sunday’s game with $35.7 million in salary cap space allocated to their starting wide receivers.
The Dolphins on Sunday had $11.7 million in salary cap space allocated to their starting wide receivers.
No wonder Kansas City’s playmakers are more dynamic.
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 1:00 AM.
