Chicago Bears Rumors: Sammy Watkins Could Be Headed To The Windy City
The Chicago Bears could be interested in free agent receiver Sammy Watkins according to Fansided. With the Bears in search of a player to stretch the field for Mitch Trubisky, Watkins and his speed fit the bill. The Bears are still holding on to close to $50 million in cap space and signing Watkins to a sweet deal may give the Bears a viable option in the passing game.
In this four seasons in the NFL, Watkins has caught 193 passes for 3052 yards and 25 touchdowns. While Watkins was thought to become a breakout star with the Buffalo Bills, it never panned out for him there even after going over 1000-yards receiving in 2015 with Tyrod Taylor.
Early reports have Bears pursuing Allen Robinson, Sammy Watkins, Jimmy Graham and Seferian-Jenkins. It’s clearly all about Trubisky.
— Bryan Perez (@BryanPerezNFL) March 12, 2018
His time with the Los Angeles Rams was meant as a redemption season, but the others stepped up and the Rams decided to go in another direction. According to Spotrac, Watkins’ market value is set at $5.9 million. This is the type of deal the Bears should jump on. In 2017, the Bears ranked 32nd in passing yards and 31st in receiving touchdowns.
The Bears leading receiver in 2017 was Kendall Wright with 59 receptions for 614 yards. How can the Bears think about passing on Watkins? Even though Watkins didn’t explode for the Rams in 2017, he still managed to haul in 39 passes for 593 yards and eight touchdowns. While the numbers were his lowest in a full 16-game season, it was his 15.2 yards per catch that should have the Bears on the phone with his agent Wednesday morning.
Pairing Watkins with Jordan Howard and Tribusky would be the start of a building block for the Bears’ offense moving forward. Howard in 2017, rushed for 1122 yards and nine rushing touchdowns. Tribusky finished the season with 2193 yards passing with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions in 12 starts. Not outstanding numbers for the young signal-caller but he had limited weapons to work with.
If the Chicago Bears Rumors are true, then adding Sammy Watkins would be the start to get the Bears’ offense back on the right track in 2018.
Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.
