Are the Eagles Targeting Kenny Stills?

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - The NFL’s free-agency period kicks off March 9 and already some are speculating that the Eagles are not only focused on but closing in on Miami Dolphins receiver Kenny Stills.

According to the Miami Herald, the Dolphins will make a strong pitch in Indianapolis at the scouting combine this week in an effort to get the University of Oklahoma product to re-sign with the team.

Like most businesses, the NFL is deadline driven and the push by the Dolphins is an effort to keep Stills away from the open market where he is expected to generate significant interest with his camp throwing around numbers like $12 million a year.

According to Armando Salguero of the Herald “Stills to Philadelphia has been an open secret for weeks before agents and teams are officially allowed to talk about potential deals starting March 7.”

Most of that talk is one-sided of course and coming from the Stills camp but the math also makes sense as the Eagles certainly have a need at the WR position and Stills checks all the boxes as the type of player they would want, a 24-year-old coming off his first NFL contract and considered a deep threat who can play outside the numbers.

Through his first four NFL seasons, Stills has already amassed 164 receptions for 2,738 yards and 20 touchdowns, averaging 16.7 yards per reception. His best season came as a sophomore in New Orleans when he caught 63 balls from Drew Brees for 931 yards and three TDs.

Last season in Miami he set a career-high in TDs with nine on 42 receptions for 726 yards as a complement to Jarvis Landry. ProFootballFocus.com rated Stills as the 53rd best receiver in football but the third best on the Dolphins behind Landry, who was top 10, and former first-round pick DeVante Parker.

Translate that same performance to Philadelphia, however, and Stills would be a WR1, ahead of Jordan Matthews (No. 58), Dorial Green-Beckham (No. 103) and Nelson Agholor (No. 115 and dead last out of the qualifying receivers).

Stills was originally a fifth-round pick of the Saints in 2013 and was traded to the Dolphins in March of 2015 for linebacker Dannell Ellerbe and a third-round pick.

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen