Fins TRADE for Kenny Stills

[Brian Fein]

he stunk like the south side of a northbound mule.

I see what you did there.   Where do you come up with this stuff?

[Rich]

Yeah, but the year before, when he finally got the chance to start during the second half of the season, he had put up some decent numbers, notching double-digit tackles in a bunch of games. That's why Miami thought he was worth signing.

Of course, then came 2013, and as noted, he stunk like the south side of a northbound mule.

Good riddance, Mr. Ellerbe...don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

Agreed. He wasn't a good scheme fit for the Phins.

[EDGECRUSHER]

This is an excellent trade for us. We got a young, cheap receiver who puts up Mike Wallace numbers as a depe threat, but not as one dimensional. In return, we give up a 3rd rounder and Ellerbe which allows us to have about $6 Million in cap space.

A trade so lopsided that Saints fans should be picketing outside their headquarters and demanding the GM is fired. Stills for a 3rd rounder straight up is bad for Nawlins, but throwing in Ellerbe? Wow, kudos to Miami in every way.

[Sunstroke]

I see what you did there.   Where do you come up with this stuff?

I just fling fingers at the keyboard and hope some of it makes sense once the digital dust settles.

[Pappy13]

Look at Stills production. Almost 1000 yards receiving in his second year, he's a 4.38 guy. But he also catches almost 80% of his targets. He's 23. He's cheap.

And you have to factor in that we threw in a player we were going to cut anyway and opened up a bunch more cap room.

Now factor in that Miami gave a 3rd round pick and that evens things out pretty dramatically. I never said it was a bad trade, I like the trade, I just don't think it's a steal by any means.

[EDGECRUSHER]

A 3rd rounder for a proven NFL WR who is under cheap control for 2 years is a steal and a trade every team in the NFL would make.

Except the Saints apparently.

[Rich]

Now factor in that Miami gave a 3rd round pick and that evens things out pretty dramatically. I never said it was a bad trade, I like the trade, I just don't think it's a steal by any means.

Now factor in that the Saints had a cheap deep threat for two seasons and noe have a way overpaid linebacker for two seasons and the trade was a steal.

[MikeO]

Recent Fins 3rd round picks....Michael Egnew, Billy Turner, Jon Jerry. Yeah I got no problem giving up a 3rd round pick for a PROVEN WR on his rookie contract playing for no money with a lot of upside

[Pappy13]

A 3rd rounder for a proven NFL WR who is under cheap control for 2 years is a steal and a trade every team in the NFL would make.

Except the Saints apparently.

A 3rd rounder plus a proven LB. That makes it a pretty even trade.

[Pappy13]

Recent Fins 3rd round picks....Michael Egnew, Billy Turner, Jon Jerry. Yeah I got no problem giving up a 3rd round pick for a PROVEN WR on his rookie contract playing for no money with a lot of upside

So the problem isn't the 3rd round pick but rather who Miami has chosen with the pick? Can't agree with you more there. But that doesn't make 3rd round picks any less valuable, it just means that you have to pick the right guy with the pick.

Again I want to stress that I'm not saying that I don't like the trade, I do. But trades like this always look good at this time of year, how about we see if Stills actually is a decent WR for the Dolphins before we start singing his praises. Wallace was thought to be a steal too and now a couple years later everyone is glad he's gone. Before that it was Brandon Marshall.

How about we take a look at the real score line:

Losses
Brandon Gibson
Brian Hartline
Mike Wallace
Jared Odrick
Jimmy Wilson
Dannell Ellerbe
3rd and 7th round picks

Additions:
Kenny Stills
Jordan Cameron
Brice McCain
Ndamukong Suh
5th round pick.

If we lose Clay too, even being optimistic about these moves this is probably an upgrade but not a major upgrade in my mind. Suh is a great player and will help the defense tremendously, but we paid a lot to get him and lost Odrick in the process. Odrick is no Suh, but he was a decent player. Looking at Stills compared to Wallace, Hartline and Gibson and our WR corp took a hit and definite downgrade. Sure getting their salaries off the books helped, but really only so that we could sign Suh, didn't help the WR talent. Cameron for Clay is a good trade, but only if Cameron stays healthy and while health is always a crapshoot, the problem with Cameron is concussions and those things tend to be pretty predictable rather than simply bad luck. I have no idea what McCain will bring. I think some of you are looking at this with rose colored glasses and that's certainly one way to look at things, but I'd prefer to wait till these guys take the field in 2015 before declaring this a successful off-season.

[Sunstroke]

A 3rd rounder plus a proven LB. That makes it a pretty even trade.

What, exactly, has that LB proven? In 2013, he proved he could be among the worst inside linebackers in the game. In 2014, he proved he could sit on the bench with an injury.

It really wasn't an even trade.

[MikeO]

A 3rd rounder plus a proven LB. That makes it a pretty even trade.

a linebacker (who isn't proven) who is coming off major hip surgery

[Pappy13]

What, exactly, has that LB proven? In 2013, he proved he could be among the worst inside linebackers in the game. In 2014, he proved he could sit on the bench with an injury.

It really wasn't an even trade.

I didn't say it was an even trade, I said it wasn't a steal, which it wasn't.

[Sunstroke]

I didn't say it was an even trade, I said it wasn't a steal, which it wasn't.

Please look at the words that I quoted. You said, and I again quote:

A 3rd rounder plus a proven LB. That makes it a pretty even trade.

Unless you want to argue the semantics between an "even trade" and a "pretty even" trade, then yeah, you did say it was an even trade.

[mecadonzilla]

I've seen a lot of Saints fans ecstatic about this deal.  They love they get a 3rd rounder and a serviceable LB (who is expected to restructure his contract or get cut) for a head case/locker room cancer who was disliked by Brees. They also mentioned it was not uncommon to see Stills partying in the French Quarter deep into the morning on game day.  Mainly, they're just happy Stills is somebody else's problem now.