Remember when Sammy Watkins nixed a fat deal from the Dallas Cowboys? Yeah, he does too
In hindsight, it’s easy to see why the Dallas Cowboys and their fans are quite pleased that they missed out on signing receiver Sammy Watkins in free agency two years ago.
The Dallas Cowboys, who were looking for a No. 1 receiver after releasing star Dez Bryant, made a better offer than the Kansas City Chiefs.
But Watkins chose the Chiefs, resulting in the Cowboys having to trade a No. 1 pick to the Oakland Raiders for Amari Cooper midway through the 2018 season.
Numbers-wise, it proved to a fortuitous miss the Cowboys.
Watkins has 92 catches for 1,192 yards and six touchdowns in two underwhelming seasons as the Chiefs No. 3 pass option.
Cooper has 132 catches for 1,914 yards and 14 touchdowns in 25 games with the Cowboys, including two Pro Bowl appearances.
As far as No. 1 receivers go, the Cowboys got the better end of the deal.
As far as the ultimate goal of putting yourself in the best position to win the Super Bowl, Watkins said he made the best decision of his life.
For him, the proof is self-evident with the Chiefs set to play the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV Sunday in Miami.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys finished 8-8 in 2019 and out of the playoffs, extending their Super Bowl drought to 24 seasons.
The Cowboys got the better player.
The troubling part is why Watkins chose Kansas City over Dallas in the first place.
He said he basically chose then-unproven but highly-touted quarterback Patrick Mahomes in his first year as a starter over Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who had been a two-year starter. It made the Chiefs the better bet if he was looking to go somewhere and win a Super Bowl.
“I chose here because of Pat,” Watkins said. “I am just being real. I heard so many good things about him and how special he was. All the small things I watched. Coach always said, ‘if you are going to go anywhere, go somewhere with a great quarterback.’ I don’t think the world knew but I had a sense and a feeling that this was the best place for me. Look at us now, we are in the freaking Super Bowl. I think I made the best decision for me.”
It was a great decision financially for Watkins, who signed a three-year, $48-million contract with the Chiefs in 2018. It included a $21-million signing bonus, $30 million guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $16 million.
Yet, the receiver-desperate Cowboys offered even more money for him to come to Dallas.
“They definitely did,” Watkins said of the Cowboys having the better offer. “But I wasn’t chasing the money. My goal was to play in the Super Bowl and I made the best decision of my life. My job is to run around, catch balls and enjoy the show. That is what I have been doing.”
The Cowboys are pleased with how things turned out with Cooper and hope to sign him to a long-term contract extension that will pay him more than they offered Watkins.
Cooper will get at least $18 million annually on a deal that could end up at $20 million.
And while the Chiefs could walk away from Watkins’ bloated contract before next season — and save $6.75 million off his $13.75 million base salary for 2020 — he was right about Mahomes, who won the league MVP in 2018 and is now widely considered to be the best quarterback in NFL.
But of course, he was right.
He is in the Super Bowl after making the best decision of his life.
