Few wide receivers in the NFL are as explosive as Buffalo Bills second-year Clemson product Sammy Watkins, and even fewer receivers are on as torrid of a recent pace as Tyrod Taylor’s No. 1 option.
Although the Buffalo Bills have dropped four of their past five games and have failed miserably down the stretch of the regular season in Rex Ryan’s first season at the helm, Sammy Watkins is one of those players who can hold his head high. With six touchdowns since Week 12, Watkins has been dynamite, roasting defensive backs at will and showing off his athleticism by making nifty grabs in tough situations.
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Watkins, in fact, has three 100-yard performances in his past four games, and his lowest receiving output since Week 12 was an 81-yard effort in the Bills narrow loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. In every game, Watkins is the Bills best hope at victory, and his importance has only increased with Robert Woods’s season-ending injury, LeSean McCoy’s MCL tear, and both Charles Clay and Karlos Williams nicked up (though Williams returned last week and is on the mend).
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All of the injuries to players on the Bills offense have allowed Watkins’s usage rate to finally increase, and it astounds me that Greg Roman didn’t feed Watkins as much as possible earlier in the season. The man is averaging a jaw-dropping 11.0 yards per target with nine total touchdowns, easily making him one of the league’s most dangerous and efficient pass-catchers.
His numbers could jump through the rough this week against the Dallas Cowboys, and Watkins’s fantasy upside go beyond his own talent, expected usage, and scorching run of play. He’ll get to face one of the NFL’s most burn-prone secondaries, and Dallas has been especially poor at taking away the opposition’s top option.
In fact, the Cowboys are second-to-last in the NFL against No. 1 WRs in Football Outsider’s DVOA, and, worse yet, they are also 31st in DVOA against deep passes. Against the Taylor-Watkins connection, that is a death knell, because Watkins nets 18.8 yards per reception per game. The man with 15 career receiving TDs through 27 games has averaged 24.2 yards per reception since Week 12. That’s just ridiculous.
I can just imagine how scared the Cowboys coaching staff is of the prospect of facing a red-hot Watkins this Sunday, and the Bills must throw it to him with reckless abandon. He is their best and healthiest option on offense right now, and, well, Ryan needs to build positive momentum to close out the season, especially since some players, such as expected 2016 cap casualty Mario Williams, haven’t bought in to their new leader.
Watkins isn’t one of those dissenters, and he, in fact, called out others, taking the tone of a leader. Based on his comments about not getting the ball earlier this season, Watkins isn’t some diva receiver; he’s a man on a mission. His goal? To put up points, win some damn games, and do everything he can to use his star power to elevate his team.
Dec 20, 2015; Landover, MD, USA; Buffalo Bills wide receiver Sammy Watkins (14) stands on the field prior to the Bills
It’s safe to say that Watkins has done exactly that over the past several games, and his average of 75.2 receiving yards per game this season will continue to rise.
Now that his health isn’t a weekly question mark, elite play from Watkins has become a weekly certainty, and we’re starting to see why he was the consensus No. 1 receiver in the same draft class that included Odell Beckham Jr., Mike Evans, Allen Robinson, Brandin Cooks, John Brown, and other stellar second-year wideouts.
Fantasy owners have, like Taylor and the rest of Watkins’s teammates, reaped the rewards in a big way here in the final weeks of the regular season, and Watkins should have another monster game in store for us in Week 16.
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I just don’t see any way the Cowboys top him, because his explosiveness, ability at the catch point, and long speed will simply be too much.
Perhaps his upside will be tapered if the Bills jump out to an early lead or if they decide to take a run-heavy approach, but, in all honesty, I think they are smart enough to use Watkins to his full potential in such a delectable matchup.