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Sammy Watkins: new team, new look. cuts hair for first time in over a decade

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If you’ve ever walked out of a barbershop after a radical change of hairstyle, gone home, looked in the mirror, and thought, “I feel like a whole new person,” you now have something in common with Sammy Watkins of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Watkins, who was known during his stints with the Rams and Bills for his long dreadlocks, decided to turn over a new leaf with his new team as he reported to training camp.

If your first reaction was “wait, that’s Sammy Watkins? Really?” then you’re not alone.

“I definitely had to give him a second look, for sure,” tight end Travis Kelce said. “It’s fitting though. He’s a high-character guy, and he just comes in and he goes to work.”

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The Kansas City Star reported that Watkins, awake at 3 a.m. two weeks before reporting to camp, was thinking about his image and his public perception and decided it was time for a change.

“Kind of just wanted to be different this season and just be about business,” Watkins said. “I’ve had them for 12, 13 years. I’m 25 now. I don’t want to be 40 with dreads. I just decided to cut it.”

Watkins’ first order of business at camp — besides assuring his teammates that yes, he is Sammy Watkins, not some guy who just wandered into the practice facility — was to make quarterback Pat Mahomes look like Aaron Rodgers.

During an intrasquad scrimmage, Mahomes hit Watkins on two out of three targets, including a 45-yard strike down the middle of the field.

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The miss came when Mahomes overthrew Watkins, misreading a deep route.

“Of course we’ve got chemistry, just from working in OTAs, but we’ve got to get on the same page; when he looks at me I know what he’s thinking and he’s gonna know what I’m thinking,” Watkins said. “Of course, we’re not there yet. We’ve got to go through this training camp and play in a couple games together, be in a real game and feel each other out.”

Watkins is coming off a disappointing season in Los Angeles; he had just 593 yards and eight touchdowns on 39 catches after coming back from a broken foot that cost him eight games in the 2016 season.

The Chiefs, however, think they can get Watkins back to the form that made him a star in Buffalo in 2014 and 2015, giving him a three-year, $48 million contract to prove it.

“I don’t have to come here and be somebody that I’m not,” he said. “I got great guys that are going to make plays. I can feed off of those guys. I don’t have to make every catch and every play. I know if I’m not getting the ball, other guys are going to go out there and score touchdowns.”

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Andy Reid, Chiefs coach, has so far been pleased with his new player’s professionalism.

“He’s all business,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. “I love the way he goes about it. A true pro.”

Like Samson in reverse, Watkins might just find even greater strength shorn of his locks.

For the Chiefs, that could mean a crack at the Super Bowl.

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Boston born and raised, Fox has been writing about sports since 2011. He covered ESPN Friday Night Fights shows for The Boxing Tribune before shifting focus and launching Pace and Space, the home of "Smart NBA Talk for Smart NBA Fans", in 2015. He can often be found advocating for various NBA teams to pack up and move to his adopted hometown of Seattle.
Boston born and raised, Fox has been writing about sports since 2011. He covered ESPN Friday Night Fights shows for The Boxing Tribune before shifting focus and launching Pace and Space, the home of "Smart NBA Talk for Smart NBA Fans", in 2015. He can often be found advocating for various NBA teams to pack up and move to his adopted hometown of Seattle.
Birthplace
Boston, Massachusetts
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting from University of Nevada-Reno
Location
Seattle, Washington
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Sports




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