Sammy Watkins Late Season Return Looking more likely

[bdutton]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000719688/article/lateseason-return-possible-for-sammy-watkins


The latest bit of good news comes courtesy of Dr. Robert Anderson, who recommended that Bills (http://www.nfl.com/teams/buffalobills/profile?team=BUF) star wide receiver Sammy Watkins (http://www.nfl.com/player/sammywatkins/2543457/profile) did not need surgery on his injured foot. According to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, that means Watkins is in line for a late-season return in 2016....
Buffalo has not been struggling in Watkins' absence but would absolutely welcome back the dominant wide receiver upon his return. Watkins was placed on injured reserve back in late September, which means he could return by early December if his rehabilitation continues on schedule.



I'm not sure I would call Sammy 'Dominant' but having a healthy Sammy back would give defensive coordinators more to plan for.

[Ed]

Great news! It doesn't guarantee he'll come back this season, but surgery would have ended it for sure.

When healthy Watkins was pretty dominant last year. I believe in the second half of last season only Antonio Brown and Julio Jones were more productive in terms of yards and touchdowns.

[Forward_Lateral]

Can you bring 2 guys back from IR in the same season?

[Ed]

Can you bring 2 guys back from IR in the same season?
I believe you can only bring one back, but they changed the rule so that you don't have to designate that player in advance anymore. The earliest Sammy can return is week 12 vs the Jags. So he could still play in the last 6 games if his foot can heal.

[Forward_Lateral]

I believe you can only bring one back, but they changed the rule so that you don't have to designate that player in advance anymore. The earliest Sammy can return is week 12 vs the Jags. So he could still play in the last 6 games if his foot can heal.

What about Lawson?

[Ed]

What about Lawson?
He's on the PUP, which has separate rules from IR. Lawson is eligible to return to practice after this weekend.

[feldspar]

Can you bring 2 guys back from IR in the same season?

I don't think so...pretty sure. Why?

Shaq Lawson was just put on PUP, not IR...if that's why you are asking. News was that Shaq is ready to start practicing again after week 7. Pretty soon we'll have Shaq and Dareus in the fold, I think. Should help us, I'd say.

Who else are you thinking of that could come off of IR?

Edit: you guys are rather quick sometimes.

[Forward_Lateral]

Ahhhh lawson is pup. OK that makes sense.

I didn't know you could PUP a guy for that long.

[Ed]

Ahhhh lawson is pup. OK that makes sense.

I didn't know you could PUP a guy for that long.
Any player that starts the season on the PUP is ineligible from participating in practices or games for a minimum of 6 weeks. After 6 weeks the team has another 6 week window to either place the player on IR or have them begin practicing. If they do start practicing, the team then has a 3 week window to either activate the player to the 53-man roster, or place them on IR.

[DynaPaul]

Not for nothing but do we even need him at this point? He's practically done nothing this year.

[Night Train]

I only want Watkins back if he's got complete flexibility and speed.

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

I only want Watkins back if he's got complete flexibility and speed.

yea, at the very least he'll be able to open up better looks for Woods and Clay since he will have to be doubled

[casdhf]

Do I cut him or not in fantasy? I need the roster spot.

[feldspar]

Not for nothing but do we even need him at this point? He's practically done nothing this year.

Of course we need him. And we'll need him badly. We have basically nothing at receiver now...Woods is not a #1 receiver, either.

After Woods, we have Marquise Goodwin, Walt Powell, and Justin Hunter. Those are the only other three WRs with catches this year. Here are the WR stats for the players currently on the roster:

Robert Woods: 20 catches, 196 yards, 0 TDs
Marquise Goodwin: 6 catches, 143 yards (84 yd long), 2 TDs
Walt Powell: 7 catches, 50 yards, 0 TDs
Justin Hunter: 1 catch, 4 yards, 1 TD

THAT'S IT. That's the sum-total of all the wide receiver production the Bills have had through 5 games with the players on the roster. Taking away that facet of an offense to THAT degree should eventually come back to bite any team. What's going to happen if they take our run game away or we turn over the ball in a game...or the defense has a bad outing?

Yeah, we are going to need Watkins back alright. He's WAY better than any other receiver the Bills have. He didn't do all that much through 2 games, but he was hurt. These things are tricky, but it looks like he was brought back too soon...and some asswipe scrub stepped on his foot in practice. Having him back would be HUGE.

[Mace]

Having him back would be HUGE.

It would be meaningful, huge, I don't know.

Passing game wise :
2015 Bills - 29.1 att/g, 18.4 completions/g, 225 y/g, 23 td's on the year, 153 first downs
2016 Bills - 28.4 att/g, 17.4 comp/g, 181 y/g, on pace for 24 td's, on pace for 160 first downs.

We're down 1 att, 1 comp and 41 yards per game.

No way to know if it holds up of course yet, but it almost looks to me like the passing game looks ok without the Watkin's fly routes so far.

Shootouts, well we aren't going to win them with or without him, we're not built for them.

[Mr. Pink]

Do I cut him or not in fantasy? I need the roster spot.

Shouldn't have taken him to begin with.

[Topas]

It would be meaningful, huge, I don't know.

Passing game wise :
2015 Bills - 29.1 att/g, 18.4 completions/g, 225 y/g, 23 td's on the year, 153 first downs
2016 Bills - 28.4 att/g, 17.4 comp/g, 181 y/g, on pace for 24 td's, on pace for 160 first downs.

We're down 1 att, 1 comp and 41 yards per game.

No way to know if it holds up of course yet, but it almost looks to me like the passing game looks ok without the Watkin's fly routes so far.

Shootouts, well we aren't going to win them with or without him, we're not built for them.

I think these stats are a bit misleading. Because he sucked before the bye (first 7 games). After the bye he averaged 100 yards per game. So after he got accustomed and tyord looked for him he was very effective.
So I agree, a fully healthy Sammy makes a HUGE difference. Problem is the fully healthy part.

[Mahdi]

Not for nothing but do we even need him at this point? He's practically done nothing this year.

Our offense will continue to struggle unless we have Watkins back or until someone shows they can fill his shoes.

Watkins demands attention and if he doesn't get it he can takeover a game like he was doing late last season.

Taylor is not a "throw you open" type QB so having Watkins allows him to just throw to a guy who gets open so easily. Not to mention the deep threat he presents which opens up the game for everyone.

[X-Era]

I believe you can only bring one back, but they changed the rule so that you don't have to designate that player in advance anymore. The earliest Sammy can return is week 12 vs the Jags. So he could still play in the last 6 games if his foot can heal.I see what you did there...

[Ed]

I see what you did there...
What did I do?

[Mr. Pink]

Our offense will continue to struggle unless we have Watkins back or until someone shows they can fill his shoes.

Watkins demands attention and if he doesn't get it he can takeover a game like he was doing late last season.

Taylor is not a "throw you open" type QB so having Watkins allows him to just throw to a guy who gets open so easily. Not to mention the deep threat he presents which opens up the game for everyone.

Except the offense isn't struggling without him.

It's the same as it was last year when he played and actually looks better now than it did back in week 1.

[Mace]

I think these stats are a bit misleading. Because he sucked before the bye (first 7 games). After the bye he averaged 100 yards per game. So after he got accustomed and tyord looked for him he was very effective.
So I agree, a fully healthy Sammy makes a HUGE difference. Problem is the fully healthy part.

Thing is though, in the 4 games where he had more than 100 yards after the bye last year, we were 2-2. Interesting thing too, he had 7 td's in 8 losses, and only 2 td's in 8 wins. I dunno.