Sammy Watkins Talks About His Relationship with the Chiefs, Beliefs, Troubled Past in New Interview
In a fascinating piece on Bleacher Report, Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Sammy Watkins talks about, well, just about everything.
First and foremost: read the full article. Watkins talks to author Tyler Dunne about several topics we won't touch on here, including his unique beliefs, substance abuse in his past that derailed his early NFL career in Buffalo, and how his past led to both of those elements of his future.
Watkins also shed some light on his offseason contract restructuring with the Chiefs, painting a fascinating picture of his role with the team up to this point and what he expects from the future.
These two excerpts are back-to-back in the article, but appear to take place in two separate conversations between Dunne and Watkins, part one taking place in early March:
He vows to tell the Chiefs where he stands. He won't take a pay cut, and he needs his 100 targets, 1,000-plus yards, 12 touchdowns this season. Because just like he did before that AFC title game, before the Super Bowl, Watkins knows what's coming next for him: eight more seasons, two more Super Bowls, one gold jacket. Book it.
So this team had better be ready to feed him the ball. "I'm praying and hope they do right by me if I go back," he says. "If they don't, it's going to be World War III. Seriously. Because I feel like I've been doing everything in my power to stay positive, to continue to uplift everybody on the team. To put myself last, to literally always put myself last."
And he knows there are those on the Chiefs who haven't appreciated this all. He won't name names, but he could sense bad energy, from players and coaches alike. He could see it in one person's eyes, in the hallway, when that person then did a 180 to walk the other direction. He felt it when someone told him during one game that he could injure himself if he entered, and, "Boom," Watkins says, "I get hurt." He thinks one coach, at times, was playing for the other team. He thinks there are some on the staff who'd rather lose than see him succeed.
"It's sad. It's sad. It's unbelievably sad," Watkins says. "I've been exposed to it."
He wishes he could ignore it all. If he could go back to being "unconscious" while also living righteously, he'd do it. In a heartbeat. Because darkness, he's learned, is everywhere. Even on a team that hoists the Lombardi Trophy.
Old Sammy is back. New Sammy is gone. A dark entity, briefly, seems to be getting exactly what it wants inside of Watkins right now.
He's fighting darkness with more darkness. And on this day, he's clearly done in Kansas City.
This paints a dark picture of Watkins' relationship with the Chiefs. What changed? Dunne writes about a conversation with Watkins later in the month:
Time passes. March grinds on. And New Sammy takes back control, overwhelming any bad memories with good ones. Only good ones.
They all come rushing back.
He thinks about his relationship with Reid. It's the best he's ever had with a coach. It started with 11 p.m. phone calls his first year in Kansas City. "Hey, Starship! How you doing?" (Reid calls him "Starship 14.") Reid would ask about life, about his two girls. (Watkins' daughters love Reid.) Their energies match. Reid gets him. Once, in a team meeting, Watkins leaned back to stretch a sore neck, and Reid, out of nowhere, yelled at him. "Sammy, stop! Stop talking to your people! They've been visiting me in my sleep! Stop!" Confused, Watkins asked him what he meant. "You know, Mars, Neptune…"
When the rest of the world freaked out over Watkins talking retirement mid-Super Bowl Week, Reid never even brought it up to him. He knew Watkins was fooling around. And whenever Watkins was frustrated last season, Reid called him into his office to tell him he was elite and his time was coming.
"Every word that he's said," Watkins says, "has turned true. Every single word."
He thinks about Mahomes. He loves his quarterback. The two have thrown back many a beer. Pat knows everything about him, and he knows everything about Pat. There's no bad blood here.
Dunne paints a vivid picture of Watkins' changing perspectives and battles with dueling mindsets. Obviously, Watkins and the Chiefs did agree on an incentive-laden restructured contract, so Watkins will be able to work on adding one more Super Bowl ring in Kansas City, and it seems to open the door to a continued future with the Chiefs beyond that.
Again, this barely scratches the surface of the full article. Click here to read What Sammy Watkins Believes.
