At this point, the firefighting portion of Danny Watkins' life has become somewhat of a joke to football fans, Eagles fans in particular.
Purely negative thoughts are conjured when the Eagles' 2011 first-round pick's name is brought up. Some of it has to do with him. Some of it has to do with the often confusing draft practices of Andy Reid and the team's previous regime.
The now unofficially retired Watkins spoke about his wildly disappointing career in a terrific piece by Emily Kaplan at MMQB.com.
But the most interesting quote came from Watkins' former coach, the legendary Howard Mudd, whose two seasons with the Eagles overlapped with the Canadian offensive lineman's.
"I coached many players over many years, and not reaching Danny Watkins was my biggest failure," Mudd told MMQB. "He had so much talent, so much potential, and I failed."
To hear Watkins and some close to him tell it, it wasn't Mudd's fault. Watkins' heart was never truly in football — that wasn't much of a secret — and he did not dedicate himself to the sport.
In one anecdote, Mudd recalls Watkins' aversion to watching film on Monday mornings after games. Linemates Jason Kelce, Evan Mathis, Todd Herremans and Jason Peters would watch the film, but not Watkins.
NFL
"He was more than intelligent enough, and more than athletically gifted enough to play football,” Mathis said of Watkins. "The reason he’s not in the NFL right now is because of him. This isn’t what he wanted to do."
Most football fans will read a quote like that and think about wasted talent and stolen money. Watkins signed a $7.9 million contract with the Eagles and proceeded to start just 18 games over the course of a short career.
Watkins was a failed first-round pick. There are many of those. The Eagles could have selected O-lineman Gabe Carimi and experienced a similar result. Carimi was selected three picks after Watkins following an illustrious college career, and he too has disappointed, playing for three different teams and rarely starting. The draft is an inexact science.
But the MMQB piece shifts the conversation a bit, explaining why Watkins had so much trouble adjusting to life in the NFL, why he was drawn to football in the first place and why it would always be secondary to firefighting.