The Bills are going to have a new head coach in 2017 and the team’s top receiver is sharing some of his thoughts about what that coach needs to do to be successful.
Wide receiver Sammy Watkins has already played for two head coaches in his three professional seasons and that experience has left him with a pretty clear idea about the best path for the next one to follow. Watkins said Thursday that there needs to be harder on players -- “If they’re not listening, cut them, kick them out, whatever.” -- in order to be successful.
“Whatever around the locker room that needs to be addressed, on the field, off the field, flags,” Watkins said, via the team’s website. “Whether it’s working on things in the summer that we’re not good at and being a professional. As players that’s got to get fixed first. Then the coaches have got to be hard on us, not scared of us. Get at us, yell at us, curse at us, whatever to get the player to do that job the best he can that’s what they need to do.”
There’s already talk that interim coach Anthony Lynn is the front-runner for the full-time position and Watkins called him a great coach who has “that demeanor, that leadership.” The Bills have felt that way about a lot of coaches in the last decade-plus when they started in the job, but, as the high turnover on the sideline makes clear, no one’s been able to effect a permanent change.