Sammy Watkins mulling sitting out 2020 season

[Hoover]

Link

I appreciate Watkins being open about this. Curious to see if the Chiefs would be cool with him skipping OTAs if we signed a team friendly extension. I do think this really cools the trade market for him. Going to be interesting.

Sammy Watkins spent part of the week leading up to Super Bowl LIV musing that he might take a year off from football if the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl.

Two days after K.C. hoisted the Lombardi Trophy after knocking off the San Francisco 49ers, Watkins told SiriusXM NFL Radio that he is still considering some sort of break from the game this offseason, whether he's a member of the Chiefs or not.

"At the end of the day, I think the Kansas City Chiefs are in control as far as contract talks, you know? A guy of my stature, I'm still young, I still think I have a lot of good football in me. But as you know, it takes a toll on the body, the mental, the physical and I'm gonna really weigh my options out and see if I need to sit out the whole OTAs or something like that, just to get my mental back and be with my kids and family," Watkins said. "It's been a long season for the last two years. We've been in the playoffs, going all the way to the third round last year, then won the Super Bowl. So I honestly think mentally, physically, soulfully, spiritually, I need some downtime. So I will talk to coach [Andy] Reid about it.

"I don't control the contract, a trade or if they're going to give me a bigger contract. That's not my worry. I'm not really focused on the money aspect of it. I'm really focused on my health, mental health and really checking in on and making sure I'm OK with my life, my family, my wife, my kids. Once I figure that out, I think I'll be fine."

After four seasons with the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles Rams, Watkins signed a three-year deal worth $48 million with Kansas City during the 2018 offseason. After two so-so regular seasons and two spectacular postseasons, during which he dealt with injuries and played in 29 games, Watkins has one year left on his deal and is owed $14 million in 2020. However, if the Chiefs were to move on from Watkins, they would take on only $7 million in dead cap.

All this begs questions in the offseason as to whether K.C. want to retain Watkins at that price, whether the Chiefs will try to trade the receiver or whether they will renegotiate his deal. NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported last week that Kansas City is more likely to trade or release Watkins. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero said Tuesday afternoon that the Chiefs want to work something out with Watkins, though it won't be easy.

And then there's the query as to whether Watkins is willing to play on a pay cut or at all, given his recent comments. The receiver answered that definitively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, saying he has no intention to walk away.

"I'm too young to retire. I have not done enough yet, you know what I mean?" Watkins said. "Why not go win another championship and continue to be great? ... Be a Pro Bowl receiver. Be an All-Pro. There are a lot of things I haven't accomplished yet being. The Super Bowl is one of the biggest accomplishments in this league but I haven't did the individual goals yet and hopefully I can accomplish those next year either with the Kansas City Chiefs or another team.

"Those are the little things I want to hit, not to be selfish, but those are things I haven't really done in my career and those are things I want to do. Hopefully the next eight, nine years if I continue to be blessed and play that long, that I have those Hall of Fame numbers that I'm shooting for. Those are the dreams that I still haven't accomplished yet and those are the things I still want to accomplish."

At just 26 years old, Watkins has already reached the peak of professional football. But as he said, the receiver has not reached his personal goals. A 2014 first-round pick, Watkins has yet to reach the Pro Bowl or be voted to an All-Pro team. He has gone over 1,000 receiving yards in a season just once and averaged 707.3 yards per year through six campaigns. After scoring eight touchdowns in 2017, Watkins has logged just six in the past two regular seasons.

Now that he has won the Super Bowl, these are the numbers that stand out to him, the things to drive him to want to play on, for Kansas City or another team.

All Watkins needs is a little time off to get his head (and contract situation) right.

[MAHOMO 4 LIFE!]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Not sure why. Dez is not a good route runner, and will only work the boundaries. The only thing Dez has over DRob, from what I can tell, is that he has better hands, most of the time. Dez has had some terrible drops as well in his career.

And wouldn't Dez be a lot more expensive than DRob?

Plus he’s working out with Pat and Mecole

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by MAHOMO 4 LIFE!

Dez is trying to come back from injury. Would be cheap

Hmm. Okay, I guess. Still not a Dez fan. But if he turned out to be more reliable . . .

[OrtonsPiercedTaint]

He may have nightmares of being traded to the Browns. shudder

[Chiefshrink]

Sammy has always been soft physically and reading between the lines it looks like he is soft emotionally and especially mentally. Don't get me wrong here, I love what Sammy can do on the field. Like I said, he has the best first move after the catch in order to keep the play going that I have ever seen.

But after reading this article and him acknowledging that he has many personal goals as WR not yet attained and a lot more football in him, doesn't say that he has that passion to continue to play the game. I think what he is really saying actually "to himself" is "why do I feel I have to possibly take a year off to clear my head when I am still young and have many personal WR goals to attain?".

On the surface, it appears like burnout BUT I really don't think it is. I think when he came here he entered the AR offense and he never worked harder in his life emotionally and mentally as WR in this complex very taxing offense to become that WR that Reid wanted. I really do think his softness physically, emotionally and mentally comes from past NFL teams trying to take his game to the next level and he wasn't willing to work that hard and the way he combated taking his game to the next level was injuries(in the unconscious that would finally surface) and he did here as well but AR was patient but still pushed him.

My point is this, Sammy has never had to work that hard at WR because of his extreme physical talent until he came here and AR challenging him everyday. I don't think it's so much about being burned out as it is "how bad do I really love football" to continue to work this hard to not only be a SB champion but even more so to attain those personal goals as a WR. This is what I read between the lines in this article.

[JohnnyV13]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Tyreek was still more of a gadget player/return guy in his second year. Just go watch him run routes in year 2 vs. year 3. And Tyreek was a WR in college.

Mecole is starting from a point of far less experience at the position.

Look, you want to believe that Mecole is some kind of WR savant that will be the next Jerry Rice next year, go ahead. But I'm telling you he won't even be as good as Tyreek in his second year. He has a long way to go to be a legitimate WR2.

Notice that I didn't say, "You're wrong!" I said that I wasn't sure you were right. And, I pointed out that Hill's development could be quite unusual.

I think there's reason to HOPE that Hardman can be a no. 2 next season. I'm not sure he'll do it though.

[milkshock]

If we lose Watkins and DRob (likely) surely we have to be looking at drafting a receiver in the 2nd round.

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by Chiefshrink

Sammy has always been soft physically and reading between the lines it looks like he is soft emotionally and especially mentally. Don't get me wrong here, I love what Sammy can do on the field. Like I said, he has the best first move after the catch in order to keep the play going that I have ever seen.

But after reading this article and him acknowledging that he has many personal goals as WR not yet attained and a lot more football in him, doesn't say that he has that passion to continue to play the game. I think what he is really saying actually "to himself" is "why do I feel I have to possibly take a year off to clear my head when I am still young and have many personal WR goals to attain?".

On the surface, it appears like burnout BUT I really don't think it is. I think when he came here he entered the AR offense and he never worked harder in his life emotionally and mentally as WR in this complex very taxing offense to become that WR that Reid wanted. I really do think his softness physically, emotionally and mentally comes from past NFL teams trying to take his game to the next level and he wasn't willing to work that hard and the way he combated taking his game to the next level was injuries(in the unconscious that would finally surface) and he did here as well but AR was patient but still pushed him.

My point is this, Sammy has never had to work that hard at WR because of his extreme physical talent until he came here and AR challenging him everyday. I don't think it's so much about being burned out as it is "how bad do I really love football" to continue to work this hard to not only be a SB champion but even more so to attain those personal goals as a WR. This is what I read between the lines in this article.

You're such a ****ing idiot.

[Chargem]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

You're such a ****ing idiot.

I second that motion.

[POND_OF_RED]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

You're such a ****ing idiot.

Originally Posted by Chargem

I second that motion.

The guys obviously not too bright, but I’m starting to think it could actually be a disability the more I see him post. Leave him alone.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Tyreek was still more of a gadget player/return guy in his second year. Just go watch him run routes in year 2 vs. year 3. And Tyreek was a WR in college.



Mecole is starting from a point of far less experience at the position.



Look, you want to believe that Mecole is some kind of WR savant that will be the next Jerry Rice next year, go ahead. But I'm telling you he won't even be as good as Tyreek in his second year. He has a long way to go to be a legitimate WR2.

Not really. He was our #1 WR in his 2nd season after we had cut Maclin. He wasn’t the route guy he is to this day, but he definitely wasn’t some gadget only McCluster guy

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by St. Patty's Fire

Uh Jerry Rice had a 1500 yard, 15 TD season in his second year...and 900+ yards as a rookie.

In nearly every interview he's given since his retirement when they ask Jerry about his early career, he always says he wasn't comfortable in the offense until the start of the third season. He admits he had too many drops, that he needed to work on his route running, etc. He was so concerned about his short-comings that he was afraid he'd be traded or cut.

But like I said, don't take my word for it; simply watch almost any video of Jerry talking about his career.

But Jerry might be a bad example, as he is the GOAT.

Take Hill if you want. He didn't develop into a complete WR receiver until last year (his third year). In Tyreek's ifrst year he was a return specialist that they occasionally put in the offense.

In his second year he ran a lot more plays as a WR, but he still was pretty raw, his route running had improved but still wasn't better than average, but he seemed to have a knack for tracking the ball and improvisation.

Last year his route running took a big jump. He's running his stems like a real WR, he has learned how to hand-fight and use his feet to get away from jams at the line, and he's consistently stepping on the toes of his defenders.

All I'm saying is that Hardman is starting from a place of a lot less experience than where Tyreek started. And judging from his performances in the play-offs he still has a long way to go before he's going to be a legitimate WR2.

[T-post Tom]

This almost seems like a negotiating ploy contrived by an agent. Chiefs will be fine at WR w/o DROB or Watkins. They can easily plug and play a new receiver in the WR3 spot. (If Watkins & DROB leave, they will likely look for someone with size as Hill and Hardman are smaller WRs.)

[RealSNR]

Another thought I had.

Hardman had 26 catches for 538 yards and 6 TDs in his rookie season when he apparently knew nothing about the offense or route running. Is it expected that he learns and develops and improves in that area? Of course-- he's a freaking 2nd round pick. If he doesn't, or he doesn't improve much in that area? Those numbers are still better than any other single season output by a drafted Chiefs WR not named Tyreek Hill.

He got those 26 catches on 41 targets, which is a catch percentage of 63%. That's not the best, but it's actually probably about average or a little better than average for deep threat WRs. If he boosts his efficiency up even a little bit, he's all of a sudden somebody who can serve as that 3rd threat behind Kelce and Hill. The route running thing would probably get him more targets, but not necessarily boost that efficiency.

I'm not saying it's fine if he doesn't really dive in and make learning to be a complete NFL WR his #1 goal this offseason and beyond. But if he fails in that goal or it takes him longer than we'd like it to take? He's still a damn good player who will undoubtedly outperform Kemp, Pringle, or even a somehow re-signed Robinson in 2020.

Having Watkins on the field will make Hardman a better player. If we have to plug in Hardman to replace Watkins, I'd actually argue that we're not going to lose THAT much on offense. The key following that then becomes finding a player who can be the 3rd WR that Hardman was for us, even if he's not in the mold of a super fast deep threat. I don't really believe that guy is on this roster, so it will be interesting to see if Veach goes to the draft (even though he has limited picks this year) or if he finds something in the dumpster like he did for a bunch of other positions this year.

[RunKC]

For all the “nobody will trade for Sammy with one year left on his deal” folks, this is pretty common. Darius Slay has one year left on his deal and he’s 29. New team will simply rework with a new deal.

Lions have spoken with multiple teams about a potential trade for Pro Bowl CB Darius Slay, per sources. Any team that trades for Slay would have to compensate Detroit and Slay with a new deal. Other teams believe Slay will be traded this off-season, but Lions adamant on value.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 17, 2020

Sammy is 26 and just showed his value. If Emmanuel Sanders old ass netted a 3rd, than that’s Sammy’s market. And yes some team should be interested.

[SuperBowl4]

Here's your ring now GTFO.