Sammy Watkins wants some time away from football this offseason

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Sammy Watkins says he’s not ready to retire but he does want some time away from the game with his family.

The conversation around Sammy Watkins these days has everything to do with his contract. The conversation within Watkins has nothing to do with finances or where he will play next season.

Watkins, a wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs, is well aware that he’s not in control of where he will play next season or what the team will decide to do with his contract. However, he’s got more pressing matters—his personal health and wellness—so he’s channeling all of his energies into the things he can control.

The latest reports cite franchise sources stating they want to find a way to keep Watkins next year. That sounds straightforward enough considering the team has Watkins locked up contractually through 2021. However, Watkins comes with a $21 million cap hit this coming year, which would make him the most expensive wideout in the entire league. That’s simply not commensurate with the on-field dividends.

Even more, the Chiefs can ill afford to play for such disproportional production—despite Watkins incredible numbers in the postseason—due to other bills that are coming due. The cap hits for Tyreek Hill, Frank Clark, and Tyrann Mathieu all jump considerably in 2020. Chris Jones remains unsigned and the team is also keen to reach a long-term extension with Patrick Mahomes. In short, despite the ability to clear some room from other deals and a rising salary cap, the Chiefs owe a lot more money to familiar faces already next season.

The conversation around Watkins has largely been around any ability to restructure his deal or extend him for a bit less money to even out the demands and keep him around. But nothing is certain just yet and the Chiefs have some tough decisions to make either way.

Until then, Watkins sounds ready to take some time away from it all. In a recent interview with Sirius XM, Watkins admits he needs space from the game.

“I’m not really focused on the money aspect of it. I’m really focused on my mental health and checking in on and making sure I’m okay with my life and my family, my wife and my kids. Once I figure that out, I think I’ll be fine.”

Specifically Watkins is not referring to retiring. Watkins was asked directly about and he was quick to correct and said he’s ready to play for eight or nine more seasons.

“I’m too young to retire,” says Watkins. “I have not done enough yet. Why not go win another championship and continue to be great and have a thousand yard season, be a Pro Bowl receiver, be an All-Pro? There’s a lot of things I haven’t accomplished yet.”

Instead, he clarified that he might be inclined to sit out some of the typical offseason practices and workouts for the ability to clear his head from all things football for several weeks or even months.

“…I’m gonna really weigh my options out and see if I need to sit out the whole OTAs or something like that just to get my mental back and be with my kids and family. It’s been a long season for the last two years,” he says.

“We’ve been in the playoffs going all the way to the third round last year and then we won the Super Bowl. So I honestly think mentally, physically, socially, spiritually I need some down time. I’m gonna talk to Coach Reid about it.”

Watkins is one of the offseason’s biggest question marks for the Chiefs, but it sounds clear that the talented wideout has his own issues to sort through as well. It’s a healthy thing for an athlete to openly and vulnerably discuss mental health and emotional wellness in this way, and we certainly wish him the best as he seeks to clear his mind and spend time with his family and friends.