Kansas City Chiefs WR Sammy Watkins has missed the last five games with hamstring and calf injuries, but it looks like he could make his return in Week 12 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was reported ahead of Week 11 that the team was “optimistic” he’d make his return, but we have some more confirmation. Chiefs HC Andy Reid spoke on the possibility of Watkins making his return after the receiver had a full week of practice.
“There’s a pretty good chance, yeah,” Reid said. “Yeah, he did a good job [in practice].”
As for his potential role in Week 12, it sounds like he should be able to jump right back into things without any sort of snap restrictions. Reid explained his process a bit in regards to Watkins’ potential snaps.
“I’ll keep an eye on him, yeah,” Reid said. “I mean, I’m not necessarily going to put him on a pitch count as much as I’ll just keep an eye on him. I have a pretty good feel on how he rolls, so we’ll be alright. And I mean we talk, we communicate, so that’s important too.”
The team has missed Watkins and his return couldn’t come at a better time after they recently placed WR Byron Pringle on injured reserve. Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy explained a bit about what the team will be getting back when Watkins makes his return.
“What makes Sammy [Watkins] perfect is that Sammy complements everyone as far as our receiving group goes,” Bieniemy explained. “We’ve got different body types, we’ve got different guys that can present different issues. He’s a bigger body, he’s smart, he’s intelligent, he plays hard, he’s a great guy, he’s a professional — so he brings a lot to the table. The beauty of it is, coach Greg Lewis does a heck of a job with that room, getting the very best out of them. Because, regardless of who is in there, the next man is responsible for playing whatever position we assign them to. You ask, what does he bring to the X position. It’s not so much that it’s a particular position because in that room we have a wide receiver group who are responsible for knowing all the positions.”
You can never have too many weapons at Patrick Mahomes’ disposal. A healthy Watkins could help this team take the next step during the final six games of the 2020 NFL season. We’ll find out later today when the injury report is revealed if Watkins will, in fact, make his return in Week 12.
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