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Sammy Watkins was supposed to be a superstar wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills. The team traded up in the 2014 NFL Draft to select the dynamic Clemson pass-catcher. While he certainly had his stretches of dominance, public comments about his lack of targets along with nagging injuries eventually made the team view him as expendable. Watkins was traded to the Los Angeles Rams during training camp in exchange for a 2018 second-round draft pick and cornerback E.J. Gaines.
Just a few short seasons after blasting former Bills general manager Doug Whaley for making him look bad due to poor production relative to his draft position, Watkins is content with being the 97th-most targeted receiver in the NFL (47).
Watkins recently opened up about how his outlook on the game has changed drastically since joining Los Angeles, explaining that he is more team-oriented than he was during his tenure in Buffalo.
“I was a statistics, an ego guy in Buffalo. I was all about numbers and it wasn’t healthy for me, my teammates, or my coaches,” Watkins said, via the Rams official site. “So now I really focus on my teammates being happy and winning. And so far it’s been going well.”
This is now the second occasion in less than two months that Watkins praised his sudden mindset change. In October, he was emphatic when discussing how angry and selfish he was with the Bills.
“I felt like I was consumed, and I was angry,” Watkins said. “It was affecting my relationships with the coaches and with the players. I wanted to be great so bad, but I was also selfish, too. Because there were some games that we won and I didn’t get the ball, and I was upset.”
Watkins’ drastic change in perspective over the course of six months is hard to accept at face value, considering that he’s in a contract year and certainly won’t be commanding the type of free agent deal he likely believed he’d be receiving. However, we will give Watkins credit for publically owning up to his shortcomings as a teammate and learning from a poor experience.
