Kansas City Chiefs WR Sammy Watkins was recently the subject of a long-form feature in B/R Mag. The story offers a look inside the mind of Watkins, covering everything from his struggles in Buffalo to his unique belief system to his redemption in Kansas City. You can check out the full article from Ty Dunne here and I highly suggest reading it in its entirety. Below you’ll find a look at what we learned about Watkins in this story:
No one quite like Sammy
“Dreams are not merely dreams. No. Watkins believes we all move through an astral realm in which you can manifest outcomes into the physical world. Like this past AFC Championship Game. Yeah, he made that all happen.
He hears voices that tell him when danger’s near.
He knows, for certain, that ‘words cast spells.‘”
Chiefs fans understand that Watkins is a unique individual. It wasn’t long ago that many were poking fun at his tweets about how he’s “a reptilian solar being.” Dunne’s story about Watkins details the various occult things that Watkins believes in. Aliens, spirits, reincarnation, teleportation, various forms of magic and so on. The above quote is just a glimpse of what Dunne reveals about Watkins. What is perhaps even more interesting than what Watkins believes in is how that influenced certain moments throughout the Chiefs’ Super Bowl-winning season. And how his teammates and head coach really embrace and accept how Watkins views the world. We’ll get to that in more detail a little bit later.
Off-field struggles derailed his early career
“But here’s what you did not see: a 21-year-old drinking every night. That’s no exaggeration. Watkins partied ‘every night’—yes, ‘every night,’ he repeats—turning downtown Buffalo’s Chippewa Street into his own personal frat party. Beer, liquor—Watkins didn’t discriminate in lighting his $12.8 million signing bonus on fire with friends who followed him north. ‘Living fast,’ he calls it, holding up a pretend blunt. Yeah, he smoked plenty too.
He treated his body terribly.
‘I would go out and get wasted,’ he says. ‘Wasted wasted.‘”
I really don’t think the details of Watkins’ early career issues have every fully come to light until right now. Dunne points to the obvious injury-laden days at Buffalo but then pulls back the curtain to reveal a myriad of other issues happening simultaneously. Things like substance abuse, depression, family legal troubles, and even death impacted Watkins during his early career. He was in an endless battle to reclaim himself while trying to balance an NFL career. That can’t be an easy task and in part explains his struggles early on.
Paranoia
“He won’t name names, but he could sense bad energy, from players and coaches alike. He could see it in one person’s eyes, in the hallway, when that person then did a 180 to walk the other direction. He felt it when someone told him during one game that he could injure himself if he entered, and, ‘Boom,’ Watkins says, ‘I get hurt.’ He thinks one coach, at times, was playing for the other team. He thinks there are some on the staff who’d rather lose than see him succeed.“
The ugly side of the story really comes off to me as paranoia. The idea that there are people within the Chiefs’ organization, namely teammates and coaches, actively rooting for Watkins to fail. I can only imagine that this comes from his past experiences in the NFL. That his level of trust has been diminished between his time with the Bills and Rams.
You could also point to Watkins being selfish, but name me an NFL receiver that doesn’t want 100 catches over 1,000 yards and over 10 touchdowns in a season? Watkins should want the ball more and you should want him to get the ball more. He’s become a playmaker who shows up for the Chiefs when it counts the most.
Positivity
“Funny thing about that first Titans game: Hardman doesn’t remember Watkins losing his cool. No, he remembers Watkins telling him he had a vision: “You will change the game.” And Hardman did. The rookie took his one target 63 yards to the house. Then in the playoffs, against Houston, Watkins said those magical words again, and, “I’ll be damned,” Hardman says, “the s–t just happens.” His 58-yard kick return helped resuscitate the Chiefs’ season.“
The most important note out of all of this — and I think an area where many can find common ground on Watkins’ unique beliefs — is positive thinking. Words, attitude, and body language do have real power in the game of football and this story has such a great example of it. During the regular season game against the Titans, Watkins wasn’t getting the ball. When he did get the ball he struggled with drops. Watkins also struggled with his mindset and told teammate LeSean McCoy that the Chiefs we’re going to lose the game. Well, what happened in that game? The Chiefs lost, by a total of three lousy points. The moral of the story, your words and thoughts have power. You can speak things good and bad into existence. I for one am really pleased that Watkins was able to get his mind right before the playoffs. His words clearly had an impact on rookie WR Mecole Hardman.
Acceptance
“He thinks about his relationship with Reid. It’s the best he’s ever had with a coach. It started with 11 p.m. phone calls his first year in Kansas City. ‘Hey, Starship! How you doing?’ (Reid calls him ‘Starship 14.’) Reid would ask about life, about his two girls. (Watkins’ daughters love Reid.) Their energies match. Reid gets him. Once, in a team meeting, Watkins leaned back to stretch a sore neck, and Reid, out of nowhere, yelled at him. ‘Sammy, stop! Stop talking to your people! They’ve been visiting me in my sleep! Stop!’ Confused, Watkins asked him what he meant. ‘You know, Mars, Neptune…’“
I feel like Watkins has found acceptance in Kansas City, not only from his head coach Andy Reid but also from his teammates. He was misunderstood, viewed as a crazy guy mumbling to himself in the corner of the Bills locker room when he entered the league, but with the Chiefs things are different. People actually value Watkins’ worldview and accept him for who he is. Maybe that’s why the prospect of being discarded by the Chiefs’ franchise as a potential cost-cutting measure was so upsetting to him. Maybe that’s why he considered retirement at one point. At the end of the day, I think everyone is looking for that same sense of belonging that Watkins found in Kansas City.
