By Will Vandervort / photo courtesy Bills.com.

Sammy Watkins says he just sat back and let things play out in his first year in the NFL.

With that kind of approach, the former Clemson star hauled in 65 receptions for a club record 965 yards for a rookie. Watkins, who was selected No. 4 overall by the Buffalo Bills last May, broke the mark held by former Tiger Jerry Butler who set the rookie mark with 834 yards in 1979.

“Because I was a rookie, I really did not want to say too much,” said Watkins to WINK News in Fort Myers, Fla.

New Buffalo head coach Rex Ryan is excited to coach a playmaker like Watkins. In his time in New York, he never had a wide receiver that could stretch the field and make so many plays in space the way Watkins can.

Of course Ryan already knew a lot about Watkins. He son Seth Ryan played with Watkins at Clemson. Watkins scored six touchdowns in his rookie season, including one against Ryan and his former team.

“Well, I can tell you trying to defend Sammy Watkins, any time we tried to play man coverage on him, I got burned,” Ryan said to FoxSports.com last month. “He had a 90-yard catch. I think he had a 70-yard touchdown run. So I learned my lesson.”

Watkins finished that afternoon with three catches for 152 yards, an average of 52.3 yards per catch. The next time Ryan played Watkins he double teamed him and held the rookie to three catches for 35 yards with a long of 17.

“I doubled him every single snap. I mean every single snap,” Ryan said. “And so it’s not about his production. Sammy is a one in every 10-year player that comes down the road.”

The Bills traded away a first-round pick in 2015 to move up and snatch Watkins at No. 4 last year.

“You mentioned we don’t have a first-round pick. That’s OK with me. We have Sammy Watkins,” Ryan said. “I think it’s not just about his production, but what he does to open things up for the entire offense. That’s the mark of a really great player. Clearly Sammy is one of those players.”

Though Watkins had his best game against Ryan’s led Jets in 2014, it was all the scene of his most embarrassing act of his playing career. After catching a deep-pass down the middle of the field at his own 43, Watkins broke into the open field where it appeared he was going to score a touchdown. But uncharacteristically, he started watching the video board before he got to the end zone and began to showboat.

Because of that, Jets’ defensive back Saalim Hakim was able to run Watkins down and tackle him at the New York six-yard line. The played covered 84 yards and was the longest of the season for Watkins, but it is one that he wishes he had back.

“I’ll never let that happen again,” he said. “I think I made one of the worst mistakes looking at the jumbotron and not really noticing where he was at. He was pretty close and that was a bonehead mistake by me.”

Besides being a rookie in the NFL, Watkins also adjusted to being a rookie as a father, as he is the proud dad of an eight-month old daughter.

“It was great, you have the best of both worlds,” he said. “You got something that you are doing that you love and then you get to come home to your family, play around, walk outside and take her on a walk.”