The Bills needed a difference-maker. It had been 15 years since they’d made the playoffs. So, they gave up three draft picks — including a pair of first-rounders — to move up and land the most impactful talent available with the fourth pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.
Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack were on the board. So were Odell Beckham Jr. and Mike Evans. But the Bills had another wide receiver in mind, taking Clemson’s Sammy Watkins.
Just over three years later, Watkins was shipped to the Rams. He didn’t have to make the decision so easy.
While the receiver battled injuries during three up-and-down seasons in Buffalo, Watkins now admits that his tenure was doomed shortly after he received a $12.5 million signing bonus and headed to Western New York with multiple friends from his rough upbringing in Florida. “Every night,” was a party. “Every night,” involved alcohol and/or marijuana.
“I would go out and get wasted,” Watkins told Bleacher Report. “Wasted wasted.”