In 2021, in his first season as a starter, Eagles wide receiver Quez Watkins had 43 receptions(62 targets) for 647 yards and a touchdown. This season, with the addition of A.J. Brown, Watkins’ role changed, and his production went down.
In 2022, Watkins, a sixth-round pick of the Eagles in 2020, had 33 receptions(51 targets) for 354 yards and a touchdown.
In addition, the 24-year-old had a big drop in the Eagles’ Super Bowl 57 loss to the Chiefs.
According to the third-year wide receiver, he took a step back in 2022.
“I know I took a step back from last year to this year,” he said at the end of the season. “But it was a humbling season, and I’m looking forward to getting back to work.”
Brown and DeVonta Smith both had one-thousand-yard seasons, and tight end Dallas Goedert gets a lot of targets, so there’s not much left for guys like Watkins and Zach Pascal, so in reality, Watkins not having the same production is no surprise.
On Tuesday, from the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni discussed Watkins’ season.
“Yeah, I think when you look at that, it’s easy to say, well, Quez Watkins didn’t have the same year he had last year,” Sirianni said. “Well, he didn’t have the opportunities he had last year, and it actually wasn’t even close.
“And so, when you ran the ball the way we did this year, when you threw it … I think if [TE] Dallas Goedert doesn’t get hurt and miss those four games he probably has 1,000 yards. So, you have three 1,000-yard receivers potentially – you have one that had 1,500 yards [A.J. Brown], one that had, 1,300 did DeVonta [Smith] have? Close? 1,300 yards, like somebody’s production is going to slip a little bit.
“The things that Quez does is [he] stretches the field. The things that Zach Pascal did was [being] our enforcer. Go back and look at the tape of how many times he was in on a big block that sprung a big run, or even the play that he made against Pittsburgh for a touchdown. Like why did that play come up and why was he able to score on that play? And I’m talking about Zach. Well, it was because he had made that block so many times that they all jumped in and he ran by them.
“And so, the production, all I want them to do is produce in the roles that we’re asking them to. When there is a play to be made, make the play that you need to be made. But we understand, too, that they didn’t have a lot opportunities. And I’m talking about Zach and Quez. They didn’t have a lot of opportunities because, like I’ve said to you guys, our pass game run through A.J., it ran through DeVonta, and it ran through Dallas Goedert. We were looking to get them the ball, and sometimes … I know [Philadelphia 76ers head coach] Doc Rivers used to do so say this a lot: Some guys are just going to have to get rebounds, and then if you got a chance to put it in, you got to take advantage of that opportunity to put that thing in. But we’re going to design plays to run through boom, boom, boom, right? And that’s what we’re talking about with roles.
“And so, I think it’s easy to look at the stats and say, hey, his numbers were way lower. They were, but he didn’t have as many opportunities because of the other guys that we had on the team and how much faith we had in them.
“But we do have faith and Zach and we do have faith in Quez that they’ll make plays when their number is called. It’s just that it’s called a little less.”
Watkins has some big-play ability, and the role that he has with the Eagles is not easy because he’s not always going to get his number called. However, when he has chance to make a play, he has to make it.
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