Bills wideout Sammy Watkins is immensely talented and immensely under-used in Buffalo. But after months of blocking and sitting patiently as a No. 2 or No. 3 in the progression, he finally spoke out.
A day later, his teammates are being asked about the comments and during a sit down with NFL HQ Friday morning, Bills defensive end Mario Williams agreed.
Watkins needs the ball.
"Give the man the ball," Williams said. "I think Sammy is obviously a great player and he can get down the field. He's not just fast and can get vertical, he can make guys miss on the short catches and things like that. So I think the more touches he gets, the better chance we have of winning."
Watkins is currently fifth on the team in total targets (13). Though the number is skewed a bit because he missed a pair of games, Watkins is nowhere near the 10 looks a game he's requesting.
Does this need to change? Yes. Watkins was brought to Orchard Park to be a weapon, not a blocking wideout or a decoy.
However, this was always going to be a problem. Watkins knew Drew Brees wasn't in Buffalo when he was drafted and the other receivers he says he keeps an eye on -- Odell Beckham, A.J. Green, Julio Jones -- are catching balls from Eli Manning, Andy Dalton and Matt Ryan, respectively.
Is Tyrod Taylor, or EJ Manuel, or anyone else on the Bills roster good enough to thread him the ball in tight single coverage at this point? Are they taught to be safer than that and focus on the ground game?
This situation isn't going away any time soon, so Roman and Rex Ryan need to find answers to those questions.
