Tannehill Would Welcome Reunion With Former Dolphins Receiver
The Tennessee Titans now have a void to fill at wide receiver.
The team placed veteran wide receiver Adam Humphries on injured reserve on Tuesday, one game after he returned from a concussion, which he sustained on Nov. 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
With Humphries out at least three weeks, it’s prompted many to wonder who will fill his void in the lineup, and a familiar face to quarterback Ryan Tannehill is among the best available free-agent options.
That is Kenny Stills, who the Houston Texans cut on Nov. 27. Stills and Tannehill were teammates with the Miami Dolphins for four seasons (2015-2018). Tannehill on Wednesday said he would welcome a second go around with Stills but explained that those decisions are above his pay grade.
“I have a ton of history with Kenny,” Tannehill said. “I enjoyed playing with him. … Loved playing with Kenny. If the opportunity arose, I would love to do it again.”
After a two-year stint with the New Orleans Saints, Stills enjoyed some of his most successful seasons with Tannehill throwing him the football. In 2015, when Tannehill started all 16 games, Stills had 63 receptions and four touchdowns. The following season (2016), Tannehill missed three games due to injury, but Stills had one of the best statistical seasons. He finished with 42 catches for 726 yards and a career-high nine touchdowns. Tannehill missed the entire 2017 season with an ACL injury, but returned in 2018 -- his last in Miami -- and started 11 games. In 15 starts that season, Stills had 37 catches for 553 yards and six touchdowns.
An eight-year NFL veteran, Stills has 310 career receptions for 4,843 yards and 37 touchdowns with three teams (Saints, Dolphins and Texans). Over the last season and a half with Houston, he collected 51 catches for 705 yards and five touchdowns in 23 appearances.
Stills has averaged at least 13 yards per reception in each of his eight seasons and 217 of his catches have moved the chains. The best season of his career was 2014 with the Saints, when he caught 63 passes for 931 yards and three touchdowns.
Here is look at some other options, both on and off of the Titans’ roster:
ON THE ROSTER
Cameron Batson bounced on and off of the practice squad in the early stages of this season but has proved his worth on the roster lately on special teams as a kick returner and on the offensive side of the ball. He had a handful of acrobatic catches in a 41-35 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, including a diving catch for a first down in the third quarter near the sideline, and a toe-tap touchdown late in the fourth quarter -- his first career touchdown.
A two-year NFL veteran, Batson has played in 19 games with Tennessee (2018, this season), registering 19 catches for 170 yards. Batson is the most likely replacement for Humphries at the moment.
The Titans can also look to Kalif Raymond and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine.
Raymond is a fourth-year veteran who is in his second season with the Titans. He has played in 12 games with three starts this season. He has nine catches for 187 yards and a touchdown this season. The majority of his production came in a Week 3 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, when Raymond had three catches for 118 yards and a touchdown -- the best statistical game of his career to date. He played in eight games last year (1 start) and caught nine passes for 170 yards and a touchdown. He hauled in a 45-yard touchdown in the Titans’ Divisional Round upset of the Baltimore Ravens this past January.
Undrafted rookie Nick Westbrook-Ikhine has played in 10 games this season, mostly on special teams. He has two catches for 14 yards, and one of them came on a fake punt that extended a scoring drive in the Titans’ Week 11 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. He is a big body (6-2, 211) who is not a natural fit for Humphries’ slot position.
THE PRACTICE SQUAD
Wide receiver is one of the few positions at which the Titans’ practice squad includes multiple players. There are two.
Cody Hollister has been on and off the active roster and has appeared in seven games with the Titans over the last two seasons, including two this season (Weeks 1 and 5). He has caught three career passes for 25 yards.
Chester Rogers spent the past four years with Indianapolis and caught 111 passes in 53 games (22 starts). The Titans added him to the practice squad two weeks into the regular season along with two others, including cornerback Breon Borders, now a starter on defense. At 6-foot, 184 pounds, Rogers is better built for the slot than some others.
FREE AGENTS
Other than Stills, there are some other notable veterans the Titans could kick the tires on in free agency.
Taylor Gabriel is a six-year NFL veteran. He has played two seasons each with the Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons and most recently with the Chicago Bears. Gabriel has caught 228 passes for 2,860 yards and 14 touchdowns in his career. He’s not far removed from a career season (2018), when he was among the leaders on the Bears in receiving with 67 catches for 688 yards and two touchdowns.
Paul Richardson is a six-year NFL veteran and he too has not played in a game since last season. He has spent four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks and one with Washington. Richardson has 143 career receptions for 1,809 yards and 12 touchdowns.
