Sammy Watkins irrelevant in Rams offense

With wide receiver Sammy Watkins not being what many thought he’d be for the Los Angeles Rams, you have to wonder what point there is to bringing him back in 2018.

For the overwhelming balance of the 2017 season, wide receiver Sammy Watkins had been more of a name on the depth chart rather than a regular contributor for the Los Angeles Rams offense. The hope he’d be a big play, home-run type contributor simply never materialized, and given a 17 game sample, it’s hard to understand either his value or role moving forward.

Meaning, unless head coach Sean McVay intends to use the receiver beyond something akin to window dressing in 2018, why the Rams would bring him back remains beyond logic.

Watkins had 39 catches for 593 yards and 8 touchdowns. Before long, he’d found himself the third receiver behind both Robert Woods, ironically also over from Buffalo, and rookie/fan favorite, Cooper Kupp. The 24 year old receiver just never found a niche in the Rams offense, and it’s hard to believe another season like the 2017 one would be worthwhile for LA, or acceptable to Watkins.

To his credit, he did settle into whatever his role developed into after taking his lack of content to Twitter, but his would be, big play potential lived only in the minds of NFL watchers who wondered why it simply never took off for him in Los Angeles.

Watkins seemed almost like icing on the cake for second year quarterback Jared Goff who would find himself with a multitude of offensive weapons. It was the big downfield kind of option that Tavon Austin never was, and that the Rams believed they were missing.

Next: Were the Rams a great story or a great team in 2017?

It just never panned out over the course of a season.

Frankly speaking, the explosive potential discovered with running back Todd Gurley as a pass catcher out of the backfield has been a better play for Goff, than downfield to Watkins.

That’s just how it worked for LA in 2017, and hardly an indication that Watkins and Rams are necessarily good for one another.