Professional Career
Watters played for ten seasons in the NFL with San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Seattle. He was selected by San Francisco in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft, but sat out the entire 1991 season with injuries. He started at running back for the 49ers during the next three seasons and San Francisco's offense led the NFL in scoring and yardage each year. The 49ers reached the NFC Championship Game in 1992 and 1993, falling both times to the Dallas Cowboys, before finally vanquishing Dallas in the 1994 NFC title game on their way to a Super Bowl championship. In a January 1994 divisional playoff, Watters set an NFL postseason record with five rushing touchdowns in the game, as the 49ers trounced the New York Giants 44-3. In Super Bowl XXIX the following season, Watters scored three touchdowns in San Francisco's 49-26 victory over the San Diego Chargers, tying a Super Bowl mark shared by fellow 49ers Roger Craig and Jerry Rice, and later matched by Terrell Davis of the Denver Broncos.
Watters joined the Philadelphia Eagles in 1995 as a free agent. He gained notoriety in Philadelphia for his infamous line "For who? For what?" after his first game as an Eagle on September 3, 1995 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when he "short armed" a pass to avoid contact in a 21-6 loss. But he quickly established himself as a very productive player for the Eagles and helped Philadelphia get to the playoffs in 1995 and 1996. In 1998, Watters joined the Seahawks and played with them until his retirement in 2001. He finished his professional career with 10,643 yards rushing and 4,248 yards receiving and 91 total touchdowns in regular season play. As of the end of the 2011 NFL season, Watters is one of the two only NFL running back to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season for three different teams, along with Willis McGahee. Watters was on the ballot along with Terrell Davis, former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, and others for the February 3, 2007 Pro Football Hall of Fame selections.
On a 2008 episode of NFL Top 10, a documentary series produced by the NFL Network, Watters was ranked #7 out of the top 10 players yet to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Despite his 5 Pro Bowl selections and his high rankings in total rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns, criticism of his lack of professional demeanor was cited by voters as a primary reason for his failure to be inducted. In particular, he was considered to be a "loud mouth" by some critics, who argued it overshadowed his on-the-field accomplishments. Others interviewed said his behavior was no different than other inductees, in particular, Joe Namath and Lawrence Taylor. The "For Who, For What?" incident is considered by former voters as a defining moment that could hurt his chances, as one Hall of Fame voter said that it would be brought up as a negative by someone whenever Watters' name came up in the future. Another explanation of why he has not yet been voted into the Hall was that despite scoring three touchdowns in Super Bowl XXIX, his achievement was overshadowed by the play of Steve Young, who threw for six touchdowns and won MVP honors.
Read more about this topic: Ricky Watters
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