Grantland says Sammy Watkins is pretty good

[trapezeus]

regardless of the price, we actually have a WR where teams have to account for him and even when they do he can catch the ball. He also has been playing hurt as evidenced by his routine of going to the ground or out of bounds to avoid a hit.

He isn't another long line of under talented guys who happens to be our #1. He would be any team's number 1 where they didn't have an established starter.

would you have felt comfortable with Stevie being targeted for that TD with 1 second left? He was our #1. he's currently a #3 on a good team.

and where you are looking for a game changing WR, he is still a rookie. even your precious benjamin gets this benefit. what you expect from a rookie WR is to be decent. Eric moulds first two years had 275-300 yards in receptions each yearas he learned the system. He had 2 TDs. But i guess his career of having almost 10000 yards was meaningless because he didn't meet fletch's stat's only view on the world.

watkins catches anything remotely close to him and about 50% of the things no one else would even touch.

Find me another wr that reliable. if he stays at his pace, we know we have a #1 wr and can go address other things. if we had benjamin, we would still be wondering if we can make him better by having another #1a/b WR to pair him with.

[Fletch]

regardless of the price, we actually have a WR where teams have to account for him and even when they do he can catch the ball. He also has been playing hurt as evidenced by his routine of going to the ground or out of bounds to avoid a hit.

He isn't another long line of under talented guys who happens to be our #1. He would be any team's number 1 where they didn't have an established starter.

would you have felt comfortable with Stevie being targeted for that TD with 1 second left? He was our #1. he's currently a #3 on a good team.

and where you are looking for a game changing WR, he is still a rookie. even your precious benjamin gets this benefit. what you expect from a rookie WR is to be decent. Eric moulds first two years had 275-300 yards in receptions each yearas he learned the system. He had 2 TDs. But i guess his career of having almost 10000 yards was meaningless because he didn't meet fletch's stat's only view on the world.

watkins catches anything remotely close to him and about 50% of the things no one else would even touch.

Find me another wr that reliable. if he stays at his pace, we know we have a #1 wr and can go address other things. if we had benjamin, we would still be wondering if we can make him better by having another #1a/b WR to pair him with.

Great post trap, thanks!

I disagree on Benjamin. I saw him play at FSU and have gone out of my way to watch him some at Carolina. He makes the catches too.

I also still say that this notion that Watkins is the kind of WR that has to be accounted for, above and beyond the norm, is premature. We'll see as things progress. He's had two great games, one good game, and hasn't done much in four others. It's not like he's become a regular at doing this and I'd like to see it against some teams and Ds besides Chicago and Minnesota as well.

Benjamin is 6'5" compared to Watkins 6'1" and 30 lbs. lighter. Benjamin is more that mold of those WRs that you say need to be accounted for and his collegiate accolades were nothing to laugh at and he posted better games against their tougher competition. It has nothing to do with "my precious Benjamin." If Benjamin were on our team you'd all be switching stances.

But again, would it have been better to have had our 1st and 4th's next season and Benjamin, or Watkins?

Time will tell but right now Benjamin's the better NFL WR both visually, in terms of consistency, as well as statistically. He's a huge RZ target, the kind that everyone said Williams was, but Benjamin's actually playing that way.

[casdhf]

If we end up with a pick in the 20s, as currently projected, I would say the trade would be worth it. Watkins arguably took over the final drive against the Vikings and was a real difference maker vs the Dolphins. There are two wins that may not have happened with Stevie as our 1.

[casdhf]

Also, out of the 10 players on that list, two of them played ball at UB, and one is a current Bill.

Go Buffalo

[better days]

Look at his collegiate game stats in detail and the types of teams that he put up his best games against k.

What you'll note is that he didn't put up very many good games against top defensive teams and generally had a very low ypr in them too. I'm not sure that supports what you just said. Just throwing that out there. You may want to temper your optimism to avoid potential disappointment is all I'm saying.

A few of his rookie peers, including Benjamin who leads the league for rookies right now and is on pace for well over 1,000 yards as a rookie, and who was on FSU, had much better games against better Ds in college. He also had much better bigger game experience.

I'd love to have him instead and our two picks back.

When you discuss receivers you never take the QB into consideration.

Of course a receiver that plays with a GOOD QB is going to put up better numbers than a receiver playing with a mediocre QB.

Watkins College QB was mediocre. And EJ & Kyle are mediocre as well.

If Watkins had Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers as his QB, he would have set records already.

[Fletch]

When you discuss receivers you never take the QB into consideration.

Another lie.

[better days]

Another lie.

Not a lie. Show me a post where you said the QB played an important role in a receivers numbers & I will apologize for being wrong.

[billser]

I can't believe you still compare Benjamin to Watkins. Watkins was our day one number 1. Watkins got revis treatment and it was obvious he was going to get the last ball against Carolina. That's special. It's actually unreal that a 21 yr has been able to carry that load, go compare him to other rookie starters, find me one who was thrown in as no. 1 with that much pressure from day 1 and produced.

How you can admit that Benjamin has caught balls from Derek Anderson and continue to compare them is beyond me. I've watched all his games, most of his catches are garbage time. You're comparing a project who's caught garbage Tds to a no. 1 21 yr old who gets gameplanned against who has single handedly already won games for us. If anything BEnjamin hasn't transitioned well, he can't get an inch of separation.

I know, or am hoping, you realize all this and are simply saying things in desperation to back up prior comments. Give it up.

[casdhf]

Talking about College stats is ******ed. Lets go back to High School huh? Danny Wuerffle should be in the hall of fame.

[k-oneputt]

I really don't know where you are coming from Fletch. The kid dominated in college and while always getting special notice from opposing defense's.

The last game I watched him in was when he almost single handidly beat the crap out of Ohio St. in their bowl.

[trapezeus]

i wasn't sold on the trade up at the time, but seeing how it's playing out, it is nice to have a bonafide star at a position than a work in process thatyou hope to god outperforms and plays at a higher level.

i also think the watkins is playing injured as he has said and shown in his tapes an ability to thrive on contact. i believe that's largely the reason the bills have stayed away from his WR screens that he excells at. the other part is that hacket doesn't seem to have a plan. he just likes calling plays in.

[Albany,n.y.]

Sometimes you have to Watch the games & get your head out of the stat sheet to understand what's going on on the field. That's why the ones watching the games know Watkins is special. If you don't, you're either not watching the games or just don't get it.
If stats were so important, there wouldn't be film review. Meetings would consist of the coaches handing out stat sheets and everyone would go home 10 minutes after getting there. The NFL is a little more complicated than that. Some people who think the stats tell everything don't understand the NFL.

[Albany,n.y.]

The real irony of the Benjamin vs Watkins argument is that the 2nd best receiver in the draft wasn't Benjamin, it was Odell Beckham Jr. Unfortunately, he missed the 1st few games of the season, so Stat Boys don't have him on their radar, because his games so far don't get him on the national stat sheets.
If Stat Boy was making the case the Bills should have stayed where they were & drafted Beckham, he'd have a lot more credibility.

[wolfpack]

The real irony of the Benjamin vs Watkins argument is that the 2nd best receiver in the draft wasn't Benjamin, it was Odell Beckham Jr. Unfortunately, he missed the 1st few games of the season, so Stat Boys don't have him on their radar, because his games so far don't get him on the national stat sheets.
If Stat Boy was making the case the Bills should have stayed where they were & drafted Beckham, he'd have a lot more credibility.

[YardRat]

Great post trap, thanks!

I disagree on Benjamin. I saw him play at FSU and have gone out of my way to watch him some at Carolina. He makes the catches too.

I also still say that this notion that Watkins is the kind of WR that has to be accounted for, above and beyond the norm, is premature. We'll see as things progress. He's had two great games, one good game, and hasn't done much in four others. It's not like he's become a regular at doing this and I'd like to see it against some teams and Ds besides Chicago and Minnesota as well.

Benjamin is 6'5" compared to Watkins 6'1" and 30 lbs. lighter. Benjamin is more that mold of those WRs that you say need to be accounted for and his collegiate accolades were nothing to laugh at and he posted better games against their tougher competition. It has nothing to do with "my precious Benjamin." If Benjamin were on our team you'd all be switching stances.

But again, would it have been better to have had our 1st and 4th's next season and Benjamin, or Watkins?

Time will tell but right now Benjamin's the better NFL WR both visually, in terms of consistency, as well as statistically. He's a huge RZ target, the kind that everyone said Williams was, but Benjamin's actually playing that way.

Considering the Patriots decided to blanket Watkins with Revis for the entire game as part of their game plan, it certainly isn't premature.

[BuffaloRedleg]

I don't think anyone thought he wouldn't be good or great, but he'd need to be a Hall of Famer to be worth what we gave up or get us into the playoffs.

If we draft Top 15 next year and can't use our pick everyone should be fired. You make the bed you sleep in it.

[billser]

I don't think anyone thought he wouldn't be good or great, but he'd need to be a Hall of Famer to be worth what we gave up or get us into the playoffs.

If we draft Top 15 next year and can't use our pick everyone should be fired. You make the bed you sleep in it.

Considering how bad our past 1st rounders have been, I'm ok with what we did. Rather have sammy than Kevlin Benjamin along with a MIke Williams/ cj spiller/ Ej manuel/ stephon Gilmore etc combo. These 1st rounders are wayyyyy overrated, hence why picking up an almost sure player is worth it.

[billser]

All we've done is picked up meaningless mid 1st round players for two decades, sorry if I don't mind that for once we tried to hit a home run.

[billser]

Go look at what we would've picked up instead. Browns took Justin Gilbert with what would have been our pick, he's currently behind an undrsfted guy and not playing. Go look at what Eric Ebron is doing. We would've picked a nonsense guy, along with another likely nonsense guy next yr.

[Novacane]

Sometimes you have to Watch the games & get your head out of the stat sheet to understand what's going on on the field. That's why the ones watching the games know Watkins is special. If you don't, you're either not watching the games or just don't get it.
If stats were so important, there wouldn't be film review. Meetings would consist of the coaches handing out stat sheets and everyone would go home 10 minutes after getting there. The NFL is a little more complicated than that. Some people who think the stats tell everything don't understand the NFL.

Or your name is fletch, you have an agenda and will never admit being wrong