Kerry Watkins

Kerry Watkins
Date of birth (1979-05-16) May 16, 1979
Place of birth LaPlace, Louisiana
Career information
CFL status International
Position(s) WR
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 186 lb (84 kg)
College Georgia Tech
Career history
As player
2003* New England Patriots
2004–2011 Montreal Alouettes
*Offseason and/or practice roster member only
Career highlights and awards
CFL All-Star 2005, 2009
CFL East All-Star 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009

Kerry Watkins (born May 16, 1979) is a former professional Canadian football wide receiver who spent his entire eight-year career with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. He was named a CFL East All-Star in 2005, 2006 and 2008, and a CFL All-Star in 2005. Watkins won Grey Cup championships in 2009 and 2010 with the Alouettes. He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Professional career

New England Patriots

Following his college career, Watkins signed with the New England Patriots of the National Football League in May 2003. He was later released during the following August after spending training camp with the team.[1]

Montreal Alouettes

Watkins signed with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League in June 2004. He played in four of the first five games but missed the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury.[2] In 2005, he recorded his first touchdown, his first 1000-yard receiving season and his first CFL All-star selection. He was part of the 2005 Alouettes' foursome of 1000-yard receivers, tying the record (set by the 2004 Alouettes receivers of Ben Cahoon with 1183 yards, Jeremaine Copeland with 1154 yards, Thyron Anderson with 1147 yards, and Kwame Cavil with 1090 yards) for most 1000-yard receivers on one team in a season.[2] Kerry Watkins' 1364 yards receiving on the 2005 Alouettes team combined with the performance of Watkins' fellow Alouette receivers Terry Vaughn (1113 yards), Ben Cahoon (1067 yards), and Dave Stala (1037 yards) making the 2005 Alouettes only the second team in CFL history to have four receivers on one team reaching the 1000-yard receiving mark in one season.

Watkins' 2005 season was statistically his best, setting career highs in receptions (97), yardage (1,364) and longest reception (75 yards) while also scoring the second-most touchdowns in a season with nine. In 2008, Watkins scored ten touchdowns.

Watkins would go on to record five straight 1000-yard seasons between 2005 and 2009 while falling just short in 2010 with 970 after he missed five games due to injury. He won Grey Cup championships with the Alouettes in 2009 and 2010, making a critical 17-yard catch in the 2009 game to put the Alouettes in field goal range to kick the winning points. His 2011 season was curtailed due to injury where he only managed to catch 31 passes for 395 yards and three touchdowns. Nonetheless, he finished the season in second place on the Alouettes all-time receptions list at 515 catches, behind all-time franchise and CFL leader Ben Cahoon. Following the 2011 season, Watkins announced his retirement on January 31, 2012.[3]

Statistics

Receiving   Regular season   Playoffs
Year Team Games No. Yards Avg Long TD Games No. Yards Avg Long TD
2004 MTL 4 4 36 9.0 19 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
2005 MTL 17 97 1,364 14.1 75 9 3 15 143 9.5 28 0
2006 MTL 17 86 1,153 13.4 68 5 2 6 118 19.7 47 0
2007 MTL 15 76 1,092 14.4 70 5 1 5 158 31.6 65 1
2008 MTL 16 107 1,178 14.0 36 10 2 7 85 12.1 21 0
2009 MTL 18 89 1,243 15.3 71 8 2 5 132 26.4 90 1
2010 MTL 13 56 970 17.3 54 8 2 6 99 16.5 24 0
2011 MTL 12 31 395 12.7 22 3 Placed on injured reserve
CFL totals 112 515 7,431 14.4 75 48 12 44 735 16.7 90 2

References

  1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20111109003053/http://en.montrealalouettes.com/roster/show/id/291
  2. 1 2 http://www.kerrywatkins.com/career.html
  3. ↑ Veteran Alouettes receiver Kerry Watkins retires
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