Buffalo Bills: No, Sammy Watkins Isn’t a Bust
By Zac Wassink
Buffalo Bills wide receiver Sammy Watkins may never be a top-five wide receiver. But that doesn’t make the former first-rounder a draft bust.
We use the term “bust” way too often when evaluating certain National Football League players.
What we usually mean, more often than not, when describing such a player is that he was “overdrafted.” We don’t say that a team overdrafted a player, though, because such a description doesn’t generate the clicks and doesn’t drive discussion points. Fans and analysts alike, myself included, are all guilty of this.
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Buffalo Bills wide receiver Sammy Watkins isn’t a bust. Watkins isn’t a bust today, nor would he be a bust if he never again took the field as a member of the Bills or for any other team.
The Bills reached and overdrafted Watkins in May 2014. That was the case at the time, and it remains the case today. Buffalo completed a trade with the Cleveland Browns that allowed the Bills to move up from No. 9 in the draft order to the fourth overall pick, and the Bills used that fourth pick to select Watkins. Watkins became the first wide receiver to leave the board during a draft that featured fellow WRs Mike Evans, Odell Beckham Jr., Brandin Cooks, Kelvin Benjamin, Allen Robinson, Jarvis Landry and others.
Evans was the only other top-ten pick among WRs during the 2014 NFL Draft.
Watkins flashed moments of brilliance throughout portions of his first two seasons with the Bills. Unfortunately for Watkins and for the Bills, Watkins has repeatedly been slowed down by injuries. The latest, a broken bone in his foot, could keep Watkins sidelined for the majority of summer training camp sessions and preseason games.
Sporting News contributor Jeff Diamond explained in a piece published on July 19.
"(Watkins) had offseason surgery on a broken bone in his foot and is at the point in his rehab where he’s running straight ahead with little-to-no cutting. The Bills hope he’ll be ready for training camp, but they will limit his August reps and preseason game action in hopes of having him 100 percent for the regular season.Injuries have been an issue for Watkins early in his career, as he missed three games last season with calf and ankle problems before the fractured foot surfaced this offseason. This is another test of patience for the Bills."
Injuries happen in pro sports, particularly in a game as physical as football. Some forget that Beckham was a non-factor for the New York Giants up through the end of September 2014 because of lingering hamstring issues. Beckham did well to put that matter to bed to good with his play during the final 12 weeks of his debut NFL season. Watkins, to his credit, only missed three regular season games in his first two pro campaigns.
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Just as it is not Watkins’ fault that he is recovering from a broken bone in his foot, it isn’t his fault that Beckham evolved into a superstar over the past two years. Who, on May 8, 2014, predicted that Beckham would set records in his first two seasons and do so while missing five total regular season games over that time? Even the Giants and the most-optimistic New York fan are all pleasantly surprised by what they’ve thus far seen from Beckham.
Watkins did not ask to be selected fourth overall during what may be the deepest draft class in NFL history as it pertains to wide receivers. Whether it works out or not, that decisions falls fully on those running the Bills at that time. Buffalo could have stayed put, made no move with the Browns and drafted a pair of wide receivers not named Sammy Watkins who would have provided more value than Watkins over the last two seasons.
Nobody out there could be blamed for suggesting, at this point of evaluations, that Watkins won’t match Beckham in statistics and offensive production. Beckham does it all. Yes, Beckham completes memorable one-handed catches that earn him mentions during editions of SportsCenter. Beckham also runs every route and can line up just at just about any offensive play-maker position that isn’t quarterback.
Watkins, meanwhile, may be more Hakeem Nicks than Beckham when all is said and done.
The Giants acquired Nicks late in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. Nicks played an essential role in the Giants making it to Super Bowl XLVI and in the Giants defeating the New England Patriots on Super Bowl Sunday in February 2012. Nicks also failed to remain healthy and available for an entire campaign in each of his four seasons with the Giants before the club moved on.
This all becomes irrelevant, of course, if Watkins’ body stops betraying him and he becomes a proven No. 1 WR for the Bills. The Bills need that to happen beginning this September before the franchise can justify tying up a significant amount of guaranteed money on a player who, right now today, is not worth such a high valuation. Watkins is not a top-five WR. He may never get there.
That doesn’t make him a bust.
The Bills gambled on Watkins in the spring of 2014. Buffalo likely hoped that Watkins and not Beckham possessed once-in-a-generation athleticism and skill. The harsh reality with gambling is that every gambler, no matter who he is, eventually loses a bet.
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Whatever happens over the next five months and the next two years, Watkins won’t be a bust. JaMarcus Russell was a bust. Ryan Leaf was a bust. Watkins will be a player who was overdrafted and overvalued if he never earns a second contract from the Bills.
It happens.