Eagles have to be aware of Sammy Watkins’ blazing speed – NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Eagles have certainly faced some tough receivers this season: Julio Jones, Odell Beckham Jr., Calvin Johnson. 

They’ll have another big test against the Bills on Sunday in Sammy Watkins. No, Watkins hasn’t put up jaw-dropping numbers. 

But he is blazing fast. 

“That’s the biggest thing,” starting corner Byron Maxwell said about Watkins’ speed. “This guy, since he came out of high school he’s been running like that. He’s really been a grown man since he came out of high school. You gotta be on top of it. You gotta know that’s his biggest thing, is him going deep and you gotta account for it. You gotta be ready for it.” 

This season, Watkins’ second in the NFL, he has 34 catches for 635 yards and six touchdowns. His 18.7 yards per catch average ranks fifth in the NFL, among qualified players. 

Watkins, who ran a 4.43 40-yard dash coming into the league, is a serious deep threat. 

This season, he has five catches of 40-plus yards. Only Antonio Brown (8) and Travis Benjamin (6) have more. 

“You gotta be very aware,” Eagles corner E.J. Biggers said. “He’s a very, very, very, very, very good deep ball threat. Amazing at things he does downfield, like tracking the ball. He’s up there with a D-Jack [DeSean Jackson] and things like that with how fast he gets down the field. He stretches the defense so much vertically. Just a talent that you don’t find in anybody.” 

With Watkins, it’s more than just his deep threat, because that deep threat sets up everything else. 

“He's got speed everywhere,” defensive coordinator Bill Davis said. “There is his vertical route, but with that vertical route he gets you off of him on the comebacks and the curls and the crossers. It's a total package that we have to make sure we're on top of.”

Eagles corners have a pretty good resource for information about Watkins. The Eagles re-signed Sammy’s older half-brother, Jaylen, last week off the Bills’ practice squad. 

If anyone knows Sammy Watkins, it’s Jaylen Watkins. 

“Yeah, you talk to him,” Maxwell said. “But he’s going to tell you what he’s going to tell you, but he’s not going to [tell you] like everything. It’s his brother at the end of the day. I don’t know if I would if that was my brother.”

Either way, Maxwell said everything they need to know about Sammy Watkins, they can learn from watching film. One of the things they have learned is Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor isn’t afraid to force the ball to Watkins, no matter who is covering him. 

Safety Walter Thurmond said he sees the confidence Taylor has in Watkins when he throws the ball deep to him. 

And Thurmond is looking forward to the chances that confidence can bring. 

“For sure,” he said. “That gives us opportunities to make plays on the ball as far as interceptions and stuff like that. Our corners are really going to have to play some good technique and make some plays down the field. As far as being able to go against a team that’s going to challenge us in that matter, we’re looking forward to the opportunity.”