Top 20 NFL Sooners, No. 13: Kenny Stills

Kenny Stills' community activism as an NFL player has somehow outshined his dynamic productivity on the field

In the past 20 years, the Oklahoma Sooners have experienced arguably their most productive era ever in the NFL Draft.

From the 2000 to 2019 drafts — the entirety of the Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley years — OU has had 95 players drafted.

Using today’s 7-round comparison, that’s more than any other two-decade era in school history. In the 1970s and ‘80s, OU had 131 players drafted, but only 88 were selected in the first seven rounds.

In the last 20 years, the Sooners have produced some historically good players. Every day leading up to this year’s NFL Draft (April 23-25), SI Sooners presents the Top 20 NFL Sooners of the last 20 years.

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Kenny Stills in Houston

Kenny Stills has used his platform as a professional football player to help underprivileged children, to lift up poverty-stricken communities and to raise awareness in the law enforcement community.

Stills’ community activism hasn’t been unilaterally popular. Not when his message includes kneeling during the national anthem before NFL games. But that’s how he has chosen to get his message across — he’s not only protesting the gap between law enforcement and African-American communities. He’s trying to bridge it.

“I’ve always tried to bring people together through conversation instead of dividing people,” Stills told The Undefeated in 2019. “If you can do one deed a day, it can change the world.”

Stills entrenched himself in the South Florida community through the Miami Dolphins Football Unites program and owner Stephen Ross’ foundation, the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE). Since 2016, he has regularly participated in police ride-alongs and engaged various community law enforcement councils with his presence and his resources.

Stills received the team’s Nat Moore Community Service Award three years in a row and twice was the Dolphins’ nomination for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.

That was before he was traded to the Houston Texans last fall, where his playing career has gotten a kickstart.

Before immersing himself in serving his community, Stills grew up wondering if he could play in the NFL, like his dad, Kenneth Sr., a defensive back for the Packers and Vikings from 1985-90.

Last year, Stills surpassed his dad’s six-year career by playing in his seventh NFL season.

In 2013, as a rookie out of the University of Oklahoma, Stills led the NFL in yards per catch, averaging 20.0 yards per reception. He’s been a reliable and frequently dangerous receiving target ever since.

In seven NFL seasons, Stills has 299 receptions for 4,699 yards (an average of 15.7 yards per catch) and has scored 36 touchdowns.

In 107 NFL games, Stills has made 77 starts, including 17 in New Orleans, each of his last 47 games with Miami and five last year in Houston.

Stills was one of the most prolific receivers in school history during his three-year career at Oklahoma. He never surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in a season — either at OU or in the NFL — but he finished his college days with 204 catches (fourth in OU history), 2,594 yards (sixth) and 24 touchdowns (sixth).

His best year at OU was his junior season in 2012, when he caught 82 passes (sixth in school history) for 959 yards and 11 TDs.

Stills caught the game-winning touchdown from Landry Jones at West Virginia in 2012, a wild, 50-49 Sooner victory in Morgantown. He caught 10 passes in that game for 91 yards and tied the school record with four touchdown receptions.

One of the fastest players on the team at OU, Stills’ speed wasn’t utilized in Josh Heupel’s offense. He averaged only 12.7 yards per catch in his career.

But Stills showed NFL teams his on-field potential at the scouting combine when he ran the 40 in 4.38 seconds.

Kenny Stills in New Orleans

His best statistical season in the NFL so far was Year 2 with the Saints, when he caught 63 passes for 931 yards and three TDs. In his third year with the Dolphins, Stills was targeted a career-high 105 times and caught 58 passes for 847 yards and six TDs. The year before, in 2016, he caught 42 for 726 yards and scored a career-high nine touchdowns.

Since then, Stills has shown teams — and everyone else — his potential off the field.

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Our Top 20 list was chosen by five voters: SI Sooners publisher John Hoover, deputy editor Parker Thune, long-time OU fan and amateur Sooner historian Anthony Jumper, OU school of journalism student Caroline Grace, and OU history and stats expert Steven Smith (aka Blinkin Riley).

The criteria was simple: former Sooners who played at OU during the last 20 years and went on to an NFL career. The rest, i.e, their NFL career, was purely subjective. Players received 20 points for a first-place vote, 19 for second, etc., down to 1 point for 20th. A total of 28 players received votes.

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