Sammy Watkins has earned a reputation among fans for being injury-prone despite missing only three games in his first two NFL seasons. This offseason he had foot surgery, and set his timetable for return as the beginning of training camp. He took a step (or several fast steps) toward that goal this week.
On his private Instagram account, Watkins posted a video of himself running 20-yard sprints in a straight line at the team facility. This is just under two months removed from the surgery.
This timeline puts him on the patient route back, as we discussed in June. By this point after similar injuries, Dez Bryant and Julian Edelman were back at practice and even participating in games but re-aggravated their injuries. It’s certainly in Watkins’ and the Bills’ season interests to bring him along slowly.
In a couple weeks when training camp starts, Watkins will surely be limited and may not see any game action until the third or fourth preseason game, and that will be just fine with Bills fans.