Sammy Watkins had some odd quote the week before the Super Bowl about maybe taking the 2020 season off. Kind of unusual for a 26-year-old player. Watkins is scheduled to make $14 million next season, although it's unlikely Kansas City will bring him back on that contract.
The team, reportedly, does want to bring him back, presumably at a lower price. Certainly it's unlikely anyone else will pay him more than that, although strange things do happen. Watkins had a big postseason, but his two years in Kansas City have featured more dud games than good ones.
Watkins has started 22 games for Kansas City over the last two seasons. He's had double-digit fantasy points (PPR scoring) in 10 of those contests, so 45 percent of the time. (In bold.) He had more than 15 fantasy points in just four of those games (18 percent). Considering he was working with a quarterback who threw for over 9,100 yards with 76 touchdown passes in that span, you'd think he'd have put up better numbers.
| SAMMY WATKINS, LAST TWO SEASONS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | No | Yds | TD | FF Pts |
| 2018 | at LAC | 3 | 21 | 0 | 5.1 |
| 2018 | at Pitt. | 6 | 100 | 0 | 16 |
| 2018 | S.F. | 5 | 55 | 1 | 16.5 |
| 2018 | at Den. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | Jac. | 6 | 78 | 0 | 13.8 |
| 2018 | at N.E. | 2 | 18 | 0 | 3.8 |
| 2018 | Cin. | 4 | 74 | 0 | 11.4 |
| 2018 | Den. | 8 | 107 | 2 | 30.7 |
| 2018 | at Clev. | 5 | 62 | 0 | 11.2 |
| 2018 | at LAR | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1.4 |
| 2019 | at Jax. | 9 | 198 | 3 | 46.8 |
| 2019 | at Oak. | 6 | 49 | 0 | 10.9 |
| 2019 | Balt. | 5 | 64 | 0 | 11.4 |
| 2019 | at Det. | 3 | 54 | 0 | 8.4 |
| 2019 | G.B. | 5 | 45 | 0 | 9.5 |
| 2019 | Minn. | 7 | 63 | 0 | 13.3 |
| 2019 | at Tenn. | 5 | 39 | 0 | 8.9 |
| 2019 | at LAC | 2 | 26 | 0 | 4.6 |
| 2019 | at N.E. | 4 | 50 | 0 | 9 |
| 2019 | Den. | 3 | 49 | 0 | 7.9 |
| 2019 | at Chi. | 2 | 28 | 0 | 4.8 |
| 2019 | LAC | 1 | 8 | 0 | 1.8 |
Those are regular-season numbers. Watkins would have no problem making $14 million next season if postseason Watkins showed up every week. In five playoff games the last two years, he's put up double-digit fantasy points in all but one of them; 15ish in three of five.
| WATKINS IN PLAYOFFS, LAST TWO SEASONS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | No | Yds | TD | FF Pts |
| 2018 | Ind. | 6 | 62 | 0 | 12.2 |
| 2018 | N.E. | 4 | 114 | 0 | 15.4 |
| 2019 | Hou. | 2 | 76 | 0 | 9.6 |
| 2019 | Tenn. | 7 | 114 | 1 | 24.4 |
| 2019 | S.F. | 5 | 98 | 0 | 14.8 |
I don't think Watkins is making $14 million next season, but I think he's playing. If he's smart, it will be with Patrick Mahomes, though perhaps at a slightly reduced rate. I don't think the consistency is there for anyone else to offer him much more money.
--Andy Richardson