Bills' Watkins Reaches 2,000 Career Receiving Yards in 29th Game

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Sammy Watkins set a franchise record in his final contest of the 2015 season, becoming the fastest player in Bills history (29 games) to reach 2,000 career receiving yards, per the team's official PR Twitter account.

Despite playing for a team that has largely relied on its running game, the No. 4 overall pick from the 2014 NFL draft caught 65 passes for 982 yards and six touchdowns in 16 games as a rookie, adding 60 receptions for 1,047 yards and nine touchdowns in just 13 games in 2015.

In addition to improving his raw stats in his second season, Watkins developed into one of the league's most efficient wideouts, with his yards per target jumping from 7.7 in 2014 all the way to 11.0 in 2015.

Of course, a large part of the improvement can be ascribed to Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor, a former sixth-round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens who turned out to be one of the savviest signings of the 2015 offseason.

Unfortunately for Buffalo, the team's defense took a massive step back from 2014, and the offensive game plan was slow to adjust to the new reality of needing 20-plus points in nearly every contest.

Watkins proved time and again that he deserved to be one of the NFL's most targeted receivers, yet it didn't actually happen until the second half of the season.

With Taylor under contract for at least one more year, the Bills are unlikely to make the same mistake twice, which could allow Watkins to ascend to permanent status among the league's elite wide receivers.