Chiefs Offense: Sammy Watkins As The Deliverer

On March 15, 2018, the Kansas City Chiefs signed WR Sammy Watkins to a three-year $48 million contract. Many fans locally, as well as national pundits, criticized that move from a financial needs standpoint, wondering how the team could spend so much on one offensive player when there were so many outstanding needs remaining on defense? Now that the Chiefs offseason moves are drawing to close, with OTAs hovering at halftime, and training camp coming up next month, it’s beginning to look like bringing Watkins to the K.C. was GM Brett Veach’s hand to the forehead healing miracle for an ill offense versus the Titans in January.

The critics remain steadfast when it comes to Sammy Watkins. Too injury prone they say. Although Watkins played 14 games last season he’s only played 16 games in a season once in four years, his rookie year. However, he has averaged 13 games per season and 960 receiving yards per year. If Watkins can add an extra 1,000 yards of production to the Chiefs offense in 2018, it should go . long way towards lifting the offense off of their playoff deathbed.

What many are missing out on with the addition of Watkins is… what he will mean to other players on the Chiefs offense. Above, Tyreek Hill is left one-on-one with someone who can’t cover him: a negative match-up for the defense. While many teams have one dominant CB who they can match-up with either Watkins or Hill, most teams don’t have two CBs like that leaving either Hill or Watkins in a negative match-up and free to exploit.

Sammy Watkins has an excellent move getting off at the line of scrimmage. His step-jab allows him to get free and create space over the middle of the field, time and time again.

By calling Watkins number and sending him into the heart of the defense, it breaks down that defense and forces them to close ranks a little more on each proceeding play. Anytime you can dictate what the defense is going to do, you’ll be able to run counter plays — like runs outside of the tackles, passes in the flat, or jet-sweeps — that take advantage of the adjustments a defense may have made because of Watkins ability to create space over the middle.

The opposite is true as well. With Sammy Watkins lined up wide to one side and Hill lined up wide to the other, it makes it nearly impossible for the opposition to move a Safety up into the box. Since Watkins represents a deep threat equal to Hill’s, teams are forced to keep two Safeties deep to cover over the top and that should open up the middle of the field for: 1) Travis Kelce to do his deeds, 2) Kareem Hunt to bust a move and break a big play, 3) free up the Chiefs other WRs not named Kelce, Watkins or Hill.

Above are the Pre-snap and Post-snap reads when the Chiefs employ “Go Routes” with Watkins and Hill lined up on the outside. Sometimes it’s much easier to see the true effect it will have on a defense by examining the route trees available once a specific set of plays — in this case Go Routes — is used and repeated. Once the Chiefs have any success using the Go Routes, defenses will have to spread their Safeties out wide which will open a whole new set of route-trees for the TE, Slot WR and the RB. There aren’t many teams who can line up a Nickel Corner on Kareem Hunt, or Travis Kelce, or for that matter, Chris Conley (remember Conley is 6-foot-3), and expect to have much success defending them. Prior to Watkins being signed, teams could cheat with one Safety over the top and then try to double the other receivers, mainly Kelce. Not any more.

Like Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins was a track man as well as a football player when he was growing up in Fort Meyers, Florida, In fact, he played basketball as well making him an all-round athlete. Watkins ran the 100 and 200 meters and he can be seen here running the 100.

One note about Watkins high school 200 times: he waited until the very last race of the year to post his personal best, winning the state 200, showing his competitive edge and ability to lift his game to another level. Watkins ran a 4.34 and a 4.37 in the 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine in 2014.

While Watkins brings great speed to the table, it’s his hands and route running that make the difference. His one-handed grabs in the Chiefs OTAs this spring have garnered much attention but it’s his overall ability to catch in traffic that will be helpful to a first year QB like Patrick Mahomes. HC Andy Reid said of the Watkins acquisition:

“We’re not huge on free agency but this one you couldn’t pass up. This guys all about football and family and he’s a hard worker, he loves the game. He plays an aggressive style of football. You add that to the player we already have here and it has the chance to be a beautiful thing.”

While Reid made those comments at the time that the Chiefs signed Sammy Watkins, on Friday he said,

“Every day he does a little something better than he did the day before. You see the quickness, the speed, the strength… his ability to catch the football is incredible.”

Many times, the moment that the momentum of a game turns around, stems from a sensational play. Sammy Watkins can provide those kinds of momentum shifts. Those kinds of catches.

The greatest benefit that Sammy Watkins can have this year is in the playoffs. Last year, when Travis Kelce was hit in a helmet-to-helmet collision and didn’t return to the game, having another receiver to pick up the slack like Watkins could make all the difference in the world. Aside from delivering an alternative target when the chips are down, Watkins can give first year QB Patrick Mahomes a steady route runner and an open WR to help stabilize his first go round the league. There are two WR that I have feared seeing the Chiefs secondary go up against, at least over the past five years, and those two WRs are Deandre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins. I felt that if their teams threw them the ball more, they could beat the Chiefs, hands down. Here’s a collage of catches by Watkins, all against the Chiefs, which Andy Reid and Brett Veach may have been paying attention to.

• Play One– Sammy Watkins is lined up opposite Sean Smith with help from Eric Berry over the top. Watkins makes a good move, Smith gives up on the play and Berry is late getting there for a big gain. Notice that Watkins ends up 4-to-5 yards inside the out of bounds line helping to stretch the field wide. He should help in that way for the Chiefs in 2018.
• Play Two– Ron Parker takes on Watkins in this one but Sammy Makes a strong outside move, gets Parker turned around, and once again Berry can’t get there soon enough but does keep it from being a bigger play than it was.
• Play Three– Sammy Watkins shows how it’s done. Toe-drags to make a great going-out-of-bounds catch. When his fellow Chiefs WRs see him doing this, they won’t be anything but inspired. Watkins should have a positive effect on Chris Conley.
• Play Four– Sean Smith is in the right position at the goal line but, Watkins goes up and makes the necessary play for a TD. Sammy Watkins ability to compete for 50-50 balls should be a boon for Patrick Mahomes.

Sammy Watkins was the 4th pick in the NFL draft in 2014 and is a complete receiver. Tyreek Hill has elite speed and is still learning the ins-and-outs of becoming a complete WR but Watkins is already that guy. Brett Veach and Andy Reid have both said they are looking to get tougher, nastier, and more aggressive on both sides of the ball this offseason and Sammy Watkins provides plenty of that kind of doggedness. Developing a RB corp with more of a spine should help to that end goal too, but bringing on QB Patrick Mahomes and signing Sammy Watkins should take the team a long ways… if they can get themselves to the playoffs for starters.

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