Sammy Watkins Starts Hot, but Buffalo Bills Rookie Has a Lot to Learn

Sammy Watkins has not yet proven to be worth the price the Buffalo Bills paid for him in the 2014 NFL draft, but thus far this season, watching him play is proving to be worth the price of admission.

It's been an up-and-down start to Watkins' NFL career, with two stellar performances mixed in with three unspectacular ones. Even amid the inconsistency, Watkins is showing the kind of athletic ability and ball skills that simply can't be coached.

Watkins makes the mind-blowing look mundane. Now, he only needs to keep his mind in the game in order to realize his full potential as the best wide receiver in this past year's draft class.

Watkins hauled in seven catches for 87 yards against the Detroit Lions, but the stat line doesn't do justice to his performance.

The Bills inserted Kyle Orton as their starting quarterback because he doesn't struggle with accuracy quite as badly as former starter EJ Manuel. Of course, it's hard to "struggle with accuracy" when you have a receiver like Watkins making grabs like this:

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Or this:

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Incredible catches have been the name of the game for Watkins since training camp. 

The Bills are doing a good job of maximizing his abilities by limiting his responsibilities. 

Here's a rundown of the routes he ran on his 11 targets: 10-yard hitch (complete), five-yard hitch (intercepted, thrown behind the receiver), five-yard in (complete), deep fade (incomplete, overthrown), 10-yard hitch (incomplete, thrown behind, receiver mugged), 10-yard hitch (complete), drag (complete), drag (incomplete, laser shined in Orton's eyes), 15-yard out (complete), 15-yard post (complete), 10-yard post (complete).

Four hitches, two posts, two drags, an in, an out, a fade and a partridge in a route tree. Forget a route tree—the Bills are hardly even asking Watkins to run a route bush.

That jives with the predraft scouting report by NFL.com's Nolan Nawrocki that assessed Watkins as a receiver whose "routes could use some more polish." 

For the time being, those limitations don't seem to be bothering the Bills. On the contrary, they are playing to Watkins' strengths as a receiver by allowing him to use his athleticism rather than hindering it by forcing him to think too hard while running his routes.

Keep in mind, also, that Watkins has been battling a rib injury this season. He has not missed any time yet, but he could be hindered if he is still feeling any lingering effects of that injury.

A healthy Watkins could be an even bigger threat to opposing defenses.

Opponent	Targets	Catches	Catch %	Yards	YAC	TD	Drops
Chicago Bears	4	3	75%	31	5	0	0
Miami Dolphins	11	8	72.7%	117	48	1	0
San Diego Chargers	8	2	25%	19	4	0	0
Houston Texans	9	4	44.4	30	6	1	3
Detroit Lions	12	7	58.3	87	15	0	0

He also wasn't getting a lot of help from former starting quarterback EJ Manuel, who had hit only 33 percent of his throws to wide receivers in the two weeks prior to his benching, according to Joe Buscaglia of WGR 550 Buffalo.

However, some of Watkins' early struggles have been his own doing. He had three drops against the Houston Texans, each more painful than the one before it.

He even admitted to Mike Rodak of ESPN.com that he gave up on a catchable ball against the San Diego Chargers. That's unacceptable from a player who was handpicked to be a face of the franchise.

Beyond the fixable errors on his part—and the part of his quarterbacks—teams have yet to truly try to expose Watkins for some of the weaknesses in his game.

For one, opposing defenses have not tested Watkins with press coverage yet. He saw a lot of off-zone looks against the Lions, press-bail against the Houston Texans, man and off-man coverage against the San Diego Chargers, a mix of off coverages against the Miami Dolphins and zone coverage against the Chicago Bears.

Watkins may get his first true taste of press coverage this week against the New England Patriots, who feature a capable man-coverage secondary with Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner.

The Bills, however, may have other ideas; they have been keeping Watkins clean from contact by design. Some of the coverage he has seen has been a result of the Bills' use of specific formations aimed at keeping the defensive backs away from the line of scrimmage.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Watkins will often line up stacked with another receiver on his side of the field, sometimes off the line of scrimmage ("Z" receiver position).

As a result, defensive backs can't play close to the line of scrimmage for fear of being the victim of a "rub route" that gets them to make contact with another player while trying to cover their assignment.

This is hard for a defense to combat, but opponents should be throwing the house at him when he's lined up on his own on an island. That has not happened regularly in Watkins' young career, and one would have to imagine that this is an area where he will be tested at some point.

For now, he's doing a good job of using what he has: great speed and quickness, and ball skills that are second to none. The Bills coaches have done a good job of maximizing his talent. 

Watkins is on track to be a candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year, and he has the potential to be an impact receiver. He has tools that can't be coached. Now, he just has to use those tools to help develop other areas of his game. More experience should help, as should good coaching—not to mention more competent quarterback play with Orton under center.

Follow @ErikFrenz