Fantasy Football Week 13 Waiver Wire Pickup: WR Kenny Stills

By Phillip Jacques on November 26, 2014

Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports

Coming into this season, the wide receiver on the New Orleans Saints that everyone was buzzing about was Brandin Cooks, the rookie drafted from the Oregon State Beavers. Kenny Stills was supposed to be the third receiver on the team and be a defense-stretching situational deep threat who would see a few targets a game and have little fantasy relevance.

Cut to Week 11, when Cooks injured his thumb and was placed on injured reserve. Many still thought the wildly inconsistent Marques Colston was going to be the receiver to step in and take most of Cooks’ targets since he was a veteran and had a long storied history with Drew Brees, and that Stills would remain in the role of the deep threat.

This proved to be wrong. Stills stepped in and set a career-high in targets (nine) and receptions (eight) while filling the Cooks role, catching passes at or near the line of scrimmage and using his blockers to try and churn out additional yards after the catch. The role of the situational deep threat was relegated to Joe Morgan, who had two big plays in his only two touches of the game.

This is not to say that Stills is a must-start player every week. Cooks was inconsistent before he was injured, and Jimmy Graham is still going to get the majority of the red zone looks. However, the upside is definitely there, especially this weekend, where he is going against a Pittsburgh Steelers defense that has looked uncharacteristically beatable this season and is allowing 40 passing plays of 20-plus yards.

His schedule gets even better after this week during the fantasy playoffs, where he faces the Carolina Panthers at home, followed by the Chicago Bears on the road, the Atlanta Falcons at home and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road to close out the season.

You will be hard-pressed to find a receiver with more upside who has an easier schedule during the fantasy playoffs. If you are thin at receiver or just want to add some depth, add Stills from the waiver wire and start him with confidence during your fantasy postseason.

Phillip Jacques is a Pac-12 Football writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google