Less than a week removed from a dropped pass that resulted in an interception, wide receiver Kenny Stills won’t get a chance to atone for it in New Orleans.
The Saints waived Stills Tuesday, ending his second career stint with the club, NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported via the transaction wire.
Stills had no catches on five targets in Thursday’s 27-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, and dropped a catchable ball on the first of four interceptions thrown by Saints quarterback Taysom Hill. While Hill’s first start of the season was a miserable passing performance, coach Sean Payton wasn’t shy about directing blame elsewhere in his postgame remarks.
"We didn't help him any in the first half. I'll be honest with you, we gotta catch that first interception,” Payton said, referencing Stills. “We got a perfect coverage look, we drop the ball, they make a good play on it, that's unfortunate."
The loss was the Saints’ fifth in a row. The passing game has been a struggle in New Orleans all season, beginning with star WR Michael Thomas missing the year due to a setback in his recovery from ankle surgery, and compounded by a torn ACL that ended the year for starting QB Jameis Winston. Stills did little to energize it, catching just five passes in 10 games for 64 yards. Stills' last catch came in Week 9.
Stills was a fifth-round pick of the Saints in 2013, but the club traded him to the Miami Dolphins after just two years. He played with the Houston Texans in 2019 and 2020 before catching on again with the Saints for 2021 with a successful September tryout.