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Sammy Watkins: "You have to love what it takes to be great"

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WR Sammy Watkins **

Saturday, May 17, 2014 

Q: How was your first day out there?A: First day out, I think it went pretty good overall. I still have a lot of things to work on. I'm still in shape from two months of doing all the draft stuff and the combine stuff. I just have to keep doing what I'm doing, watching film and being coached up.

Q: You said something about shape. What was it?A: A lot of us guys have been traveling around the world with the combine and stuff like that with the draft. You come out in shape and you need to learn quicker and faster since everything is a job now. You have to come prepared.

Q: Does it feel good to be back to football?A: Of course. As an athlete you have to love the grind. You have to love what it takes to be great. This is what it takes, being out there every day and getting coached up and competing with the guys that you're playing with. That's what it is about.

Q: Why did you choose the number 14 for your jersey number?A: It wasn't really a big decision. I just wanted to wear 14 because it's a nice number. I had to pick between 14 and 16 and I felt like 16 was a quarterback's number. Fourteen fits me really good.

Q: It also happens to be the year you were drafted.A: Of course. That's another great thing and my birthday is on June 14th. My brother wore this number last year for Florida, so I'm wearing his number now.

Q: You went to see Jim Kelly earlier this week. What was that like for you?A: Jim is a great guy. It was a great experience. He's a strong guy. I see a guy that's fighting every day. A guy that's positive, not negative. You hear a lot of things in the media that he's doing bad or he looks bad, but he looks great to me. When I got there he was going to leave the next day to go home. It's going to be a great experience when I go to his football camp to help out. Hopefully he'll be out there ready and prepared. I've got plenty more years to get close to him and his family.

Q: Did you make that deal to work the football camp when you met him?A: Just having fun, joking up there when I went to see him. He mentioned the camp and I was like yeah if I'm here that's fine I'll do it. Anything for Jim. He represents this program the way it should be represented and I'd do anything for him.

Q: Did his nephew bring you guys together?A: Me and Chad (Kelly) were very close at Clemson. We worked out together and bonded together while we were there. As soon as I came here he took me and I stayed a couple times at his house. First thing he was like let's go meet my uncle. I was like that's great. That's the first thing I did when I got here.

Q: Did you get a sense of how much Jim means to the community here in Buffalo?A: He means a lot. I see that he's everywhere around here. Everybody represents him and he represents the program well. He's the quarterback of this franchise. He took this team and this franchise to the championship a couple of times. Even though they didn't win it, he took them there and that's the biggest point of being a Buffalo Bill. We haven't been there in (over) a decade, 14 years now. That's what he preached about. I talked to him when I was there and he just gave me a lot of wisdom and encouragement of being a Buffalo (Bill) and all the perks of being a Buffalo Bill and I can't thank him enough.

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