KC Chiefs: 2020 is make or break season for Armani Watts
The KC Chiefs selected Armani Watts out of Texas A&M in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft and despite a ton of hype surrounding him, he’s failed to live up to the expectations.
When the Kansas City Chiefs drafted Armani Watts with the 124th overall pick two years ago, fans had high expectations for him. Eric Berry was still on the team at the time, but the Chiefs were definitely looking for a solid option across from him, plus Berry was injured all the time.
Watts might have come in with high expectations, but he’s failed to live up to them through his first two seasons. Watts appeared in just five games as a rookie, battling injuries that year. While he appeared in all 16 games in 2019, he still wasn’t able to surpass Daniel Sorensen on the depth chart.
Heck, even when Juan Thornhill went down with an injury, the Chiefs opted to have Kendall Fuller transition to safety rather than count on Watts to fill that spot. According to Pro Football Reference, Watts was only present for 6.70% of the defensive snaps in 2019 and for 66.59% of the special teams snaps.
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Obviously the KC Chiefs have two of the best safeties in the league in Thornhill and Tyrann Mathieu, but as we saw last season, injuries happen and can come at the worst possible time. Thornhill was injured in the regular season finale, but Fuller being able to transition and play safety was huge for this defense.
With Fuller off to Washington, the Chiefs could have a tough time replacing the kind of production he brought to that side of the ball. This is a chance for Watts to step up, but he’ll also have L’Jarius Sneed – ironically enough another fourth round pick – on the roster as well. Sneed might be used in more of a corner role, but he played safety as a senior at Louisiana Tech.
Watts has to be able to stand out and prove he’s a capable safety for this team throughout the course of the season. Being a special teams player isn’t going to be enough to keep Watts around long-term and he’s running out of time to prove his value.
It won’t be easy for Watts to make a name for himself, but 2020 is most definitely a make or break year for Armani Watts.
Do you think he can prove himself enough to stay on the team past 2020?