The NFL salary cap is forcing a lot of teams to not retain high priced free agents.
The latest example is Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Sammy Watkins.
Watkins, 27, signed a 1 year contract worth $9 million in 2020.
The Chiefs are not expected to re-sign Watkins.
Sammy Watkins is an exciting player when he is on the field; the issue with him has been injuries.
In his 7 year NFL career, he has only played one 16 game regular season.
That was his rookie year with Buffalo in 2014 after he was selected fourth overall in the 2014 NFL Draft.
Watkins appeared in 10 regular season games in 2020 and caught 37 passes for 421 yards and 2 touchdowns.
During the postseason, he appeared in 1 game catching 1 pass for 13 yards.
There are plenty of teams in need of a relatively young but experienced wide receiver.
1 year ago today @sammywatkins TD sends us to the Super Bowl and I cried like a little baby pic.twitter.com/HFvdzek2QU
— Sexual Chocolate (@Kevo_Bevo) January 19, 2021
Money could be an issue so it will be up to Watkins where he is willing to play and at a potential salary cut.
Here are three of the most likely landing spots for Sammy Watkins.
1. Chicago Bears
Bears Coach Matt Nagy worked with Chiefs Coach Andy Reid in both Philadelphia and Kansas City so it would not be out of the question for Nagy to scoop up one of Reid’s former players.
The Bears have offensive issues, and that is understating the situation.
If they get the starting quarterback situation squared away, their biggest weapon is the free agent wide receiver Allen Robinson who may or may not be getting the franchise tag.
It seems the Bears GM Ryan Pace is undecided on how to handle the best player on the team.
“The league gives us the franchise tag as an option. You know, that tool is there for a reason. We haven’t made a firm decision on any of that yet. We love Allen Robinson – not just a player and a teammate; the professional that he is. We want to keep our players, and Allen is a good player.”
The Bears have until March 9 to make that decision.
Regardless of how they handle Robinson, Watkins could be a good addition for the Bears.
Let’s just say the #Bears hit the worse case scenario regarding QB’s and Foles has truly emerged as their most viable option.
Allen Robinson is getting the tag, I say move him for some quality draft capital.
Sign Sammy Watkins as a free agent. Keep growing the Reid connection.
— Lance (@BestHumanTalent) March 3, 2021
2. New England Patriots
The New England Patriots should probably be in every free agent conversation for a wide receiver.
They really have no one, and Julian Edelman is 34 and has suffered from injuries in recent years.
While it is not clear who the quarterback for the Patriots will be, a healthy Watkins could succeed in a Bill Belichick offense.
3. New York Giants
Darius Slayton and Sterling Shepard combined for 1,400 yards receiving and 6 touchdowns.
Considering the 6-10 Giants lost Saquon Barkley very early in the season and the offense never really recovered, those stats are not horrible.
Golden Tate has already been released; he scored 2 touchdowns and had 388 receiving yards.
Sammy Watkins conceivably should outproduce Golden Tate; he is quicker and younger.
Joe Judge’s offense in its second season with a healthy Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley could be an interesting landing spot for Watkins.
It will be fun to see where Sammy Watkins and some of his free agent peers (Antonio Brown, DeSean Jackson, A.J. Green, and others) end up when free agent signings begin on March 17 at 4 pm EST.
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