Chiefs' Sammy Watkins Ruled Out After Suffering Hamstring Injury vs. Colts

The Kansas City Chiefs announced that wide receiver Sammy Watkins suffered a hamstring injury against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday and will not return.

Injuries have plagued the 2014 fourth overall pick throughout his career, as he has played in 16 games just once in his first five years in the league. He has not made it through a full season healthy since his rookie campaign five years ago.

Watkins appeared in just one regular-season game after Week 9 in 2018 because of a right foot injury. Even after making just 10 appearances, he finished the year with 40 receptions for 519 yards and three touchdowns.

Back in June, Chiefs coach Andy Reid credited the 26-year-old's strong connection with NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes as a reason for the production, per ESPN's Adam Teicher:

"Their chemistry is good. For both of those two, everything is a little bit easier—all the verbiage, sorting it out and getting to where you've got to go. For Sammy, the routes are familiar and he kind of knows how to set them up and Patrick knows what he's going to do against different coverages. So that's been positive."

As he prepared for year two in Kansas City, Watkins put the football world on notice:

And he wasted little time in backing up his talk. Watkins started the 2019 campaign with a 198-yard, three-touchdown performance in Week 1.

Overall, he has 23 catches for 365 yards and three touchdowns this season.

Watkins has proven he has game-changing potential regardless of the uniform. The 6'1", 211-pound wideout found the end zone 28 times in 62 career games through five seasons, or nearly once every other game. When he's healthy, he provides Mahomes with yet another dangerous option in the passing game.