Bleacher Report dropped a bombshell of a story about former Buffalo Bills first-round pick Sammy Watkins on Tuesday. Aside from admitting to using drugs and alcohol too much early in his career with the Bills, the story did not bring anything negative to light about Watkins.
Much of the piece was about Watkins and some beliefs he has about life in general that would consider to be… unique. Things the article highlighted was some out-of-body experiences he’s had on the football field and claiming to having seen teleportation happen.
Aside from talking about his early career in Buffalo, Watkins highlights he didn’t mesh well with current Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott. It eventually led to his departure from the team prior to the 2017 season. But author of the B/R article, Tyler Dunne, formerly of the Buffalo News, added another interesting tidbit of information to his Watkins feature on Tuesday. Chatting with the Bills’ radio show on WGR-550 radio, Dunne said that Watkins told him he had conversations with the Bills about a reunion in Buffalo.
“As we talked through March, (Watkins) said that the Bills were interested [in bringing him back] and he had been talking to the Bills about coming back here before they traded for Stefon Diggs,” Dunne said.
Bringing Watkins back would have been McDermott and Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane showing they trusted their “process” mightily. Watkins lives in Bills lore a bit, as many other underwhelming draft picks of the team’s past do as well.
Instead, Watkins is fresh off a Super Bowl title with the Chiefs and he’ll be back there in 2020.
But with that early-mismatch with McDermott in mind, did Watkins really think it would workout in western New York this time around? Watkins said he felt McDermott was playing a game of “mental warfare” with him before trading him.
But yup, Watkins reportedly said he is a changed man and he trusted it would or could have worked out.
“He said absolutely,” Dunne said. “The place that he’s at in life, in his words, dealing with all the energy and entities, that he would have made it work.”
Had the Bills signed Watkins to be their No. 1 option instead of Diggs, it would have been a bit of a roll of the dice. Diggs is a proven commodity while Watkins hasn’t exactly shown consistency during his career. If Watkins has corrected his ways and could have mixed with the Bills’ current locker room, his skills certainly would have made for a powerful No. 2 or No. 3 option along with Diggs, John Brown and Cole Beasley.
Instead, all parties might have had a good thing work out for all. Watkins is back with the Chiefs and their title-defending squad. The Bills have their No. 1, and a formidable top-four targets with rookie Gabriel Davis in mind.
At minimal, it appears Watkins at least doesn’t have any hard feelings toward Buffalo, as he also had accepted responsibility for his actions off the field during his prior mentioned B/R chat.
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