The basketball dream for Quez Watkins ended in 10th grade, after he made his high school's varsity team for the first time and his coach delivered a blunt assessment.
"Look," he told Watkins, "you're pretty good, but you don't have a pure jumper and you're not going to be no more than 6-2, so your best bet is to go to football."
That Watkins, a free-agent wide receiver signee for the Cardinals, is relaying the anecdote in the middle of an NFL locker room underscored the intelligence of the advice.
"I was like, 'You're right,'" said Watkins, smiling as he recalled the moment. "I love basketball and I'm always going to play, but football is always my main sport."
Watkins would like to become a main component of a wide receiver room again this season, after spending all of 2024 on the Steelers practice squad. Before that, he had played for the Eagles for four seasons, with 98 receptions – including a TD catch in State Farm Stadium against the Cardinals in 2020 – and time spent with one-time Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon.
After the Eagles fell in Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium following the 2022 season – Gannon's last game with Philadelphia before being named Cardinals coach – Watkins returned to the Valley to visit the area. He was in talks with the Cardinals in 2024 prior to signing with the Steelers, but it didn't work out.
His year in Pittsburgh was difficult. He did not appear in a game, relegated to the practice field only for the first time since starting the sport.
"It was an adjustment," Watkins said. "But I learned and I grew, and I will be better this year."
He enters a receivers room in which he ended up being the highest-profile addition. The top four receivers of 2024 remained the same: Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson, Greg Dortch and Zay Jones. Watkins, who ran a 4.35 40 when he came out for the draft, could add a speed element that Cardinals seek. Second-year man Xavier Weaver is another candidate for such a role.
The absence of another veteran receiver add has been a topic of offseason conversation, but offensive coordinator Drew Petzing said the competition within the room currently will raise the game of the position compared to last year.
"We want those guys to push each other so that they each elevate each other's games, and we get the best version of each player," Petzing said.
As a practice squad player, Watkins was available on the free-agent market earlier than March; his signing was under the radar – much like his potential push to make the roster. That's OK with him.
"I like when I do my thing and they say, 'Who is that guy?'" Watkins said.
Watkins did show off his basketball abilities by working in the starting lineup of one of the teams during teammate Mack Wilson Sr.'s charity game last month. But now is football time, as he makes a push to get into the lineup of his new team.
His long-ago decision remains the right choice.
"I'm not Steph Curry," said the 6-foot Watkins. "I understood."
