Sometimes it seems like Nick Sirianni is just messing with us, stepping to the mic at his offseason press conferences as if he knows fantasy leaguers will be parsing his every word. He was talking up Trey Sermon a few months ago, and now he’s talking as if Quez Watkins might be a viable player.
“I have no problem singling one guy out that I think has just done a phenomenal job this offseason is Quez Watkins,” Sirianni said recently. “I love his attitude … I think that he looks really good.”
“We know he has a lot of talent, and I’m excited about that,” Sirianni said. “I really like the way he’s gone about his business because he can’t control anything but what he can control, and he can’t control what other people think about him. He can’t control anything like that. Can’t control things that may have happened to him last year, the opportunities that he got last year or did not get. All he can control is how he works, and I’ve really been excited about how he’s gone about his business.”
This is all fine. Coach says something nice about a player in the offseason. Hardly stop-the-presses stuff. I don’t see a way to get Watkins in the top 70 among wide receivers right now. But at the same time, there does seem to be a path to relevance for him.
Suppose, for example, that either A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith got hurt. What would you think of Watkins then? When Dallas Goedert got injured last year, Watkins then caught 9 passes for 146 yards and 2 TDs in his next three games. Note that Brown had some knee issues when he was with the Titans.
And consider that the Eagles might be ready to pass more often. They’ve got a new coordinator, and they may feel that Jalen Hurts has progressed to the point where they’re ready to let him do more with his arm (while running less). He had the best passing game of his career in the Super Bowl.
I noticed that Watkins played more in the postseason last year. He was on the field for over 90 percent of their plays in all three of their playoff games, with 13 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown in the games against New York and Kansas City. Watkins didn’t play that much in any of his regular-season games.
For whatever it’s worth, Watkins is also entering the final year of his rookie contract.
If we’re in a typical 12-team league, with each team drafting about seven wide receivers, that’s about 84 getting picked. Watkins would make some sense in such a league with a late-round pick, particularly for those having drafting Brown or Smith. (I don’t expect I’ll be picking Watkins, but I see that it makes sense for somebody to roster him.)
| WATKINS, 2022 GAME LOGS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Score | Tgt | No | Yds | TD | Snap% | PPR |
| Min. | W 24-7 | 2 | 2 | 69 | 1 | 59% | 14.9 |
| Jac. | W 29-21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60% | .0 |
| at Ari. | W 20-17 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 59% | 4.9 |
| Dall. | W 26-17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 59% | .7 |
| Pitt. | W 35-13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 65% | .0 |
| at Hou. | W 29-17 | 2 | 2 | 25 | 0 | 54% | 4.5 |
| Was. | L 21-32 | 4 | 4 | 80 | 0 | 58% | 12.0 |
| at Ind. | W 17-16 | 2 | 2 | 31 | 1 | 53% | 11.1 |
| G.B. | W 40-33 | 5 | 3 | 35 | 1 | 83% | 12.5 |
| Ten. | W 35-10 | 6 | 5 | 37 | 0 | 51% | 8.7 |
| at NYG | W 48-22 | 5 | 4 | 19 | 0 | 47% | 5.9 |
| at Chi. | W 25-20 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 66% | 5.0 |
| at Dall. | L 34-40 | 5 | 1 | 19 | 0 | 72% | 2.9 |
| NYG | W 22-16 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 42% | 3.4 |
| NYG | W 38-7 | 10 | 6 | 61 | 1 | 96% | 18.1 |
| S.F. | W 31-7 | 3 | 2 | 36 | 0 | 91% | 5.6 |
| v. K.C. | L 35-38 | 9 | 7 | 100 | 0 | 99% | 17.0 |
—Ian Allan