Christian Watson got his money. Now the obvious question looms: is he worth the money?
Watson stands atop a revamped Packers’ wide receiver depth chart. Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks are gone, departed via free agency and a trade, respectively. Jayden Reed is back, retained on a contract extension of his own earlier this offseason, joining second-year first round pick Matthew Golden and second-year gadget man Savion Williams among the top four.
But Watson’s big deal and dubious injury history invites
the most questions, and fairly so. But the answer is easy. Watson isn’t just worth the money, he’s clearly the Packers’ best receiver and he’s ready for a big role.
Let’s start with Watson’s unique abilities, because he’s always had a tantalizing height/weight/speed profile. Standing a shade over 6-foot-4 and weighing 208 pounds, Watson ran a blistering 4.36-second 40-yard dash at the 2022 NFL Combine to go with a whole host of other elite physical attributes.
He can do it all, and he’s largely backed it up on the field. Last year, he was one of just two players in the NFL (along with Alec Pierce of the Indianapolis Colts) to average 17.5 or more yards per catch on 55 or more targets. And in 2024, Watson, Pierce, and Keon Coleman were the only three players to crack 17.5 per catch on 50 or more targets. When he’s on the field, Watson is producing in rare company.
The availability has been the fly in the ointment, but I think those concerns have been a bit overblown the past couple of seasons, in truth. In 2022 and 2023, Watson played in just 25 of a possible 36 games (counting playoffs) due to a whole host of nagging injuries.
But 2024 and 2025 have been wholly different. In 2024, he missed just three of 18 games due to injury, and one of those three was a result of his torn ACL in Week 18. That torn ACL cost him an additional six games in 2025, but he missed zero additional games for injury reasons outside of that, though he did sit out Week 18 because the Packers had nothing to play for.
So can he handle a higher volume role now that he’s getting paid more? What if I told you he’s already doing it?
From the time he returned from his torn ACL through the end of the season, Watson was the Packers’ de facto top receiver. From Week 8 through the end of the season, he led the Packers in targets, yards, receiving touchdowns, and tied for the team lead in first downs. That does come with the obvious caveat that Tucker Kraft went down shortly after Watson’s return, freeing up a lot of targets. But even so, Watson more than held his own in an offense that had largely been focused on getting targets to Romeo Doubs.
And just as importantly, you can look back through Watson’s career and find a stretch of seven weeks or more (often a lot more) in every season where he receives the lion’s share of the Packers’ receiving volume.
In 2022, he of course had his massive explosion, leading the Packers in targets, catches, yards, and receiving touchdowns from Weeks 10-18. In 2023, he was second on the team in targets, catches, and first downs and first in yards and touchdowns from Weeks 4 through 13. And in 2024, Watson was first in targets, catches, yards, and first downs from Weeks 8 through 15.
That’s more than just saying “Watson is good when healthy.” That’s a guy who’s been the team’s clear top receiving option when healthy. That’s a guy with rare physical attributes who has put up rare numbers when he’s had the opportunity. The Packers aren’t just throwing money at Watson, hoping he can be something great. They’ve seen him do it already, and they’re buying in for the next few years.
And hopefully it signals a pivot to an offense where Jordan Love is really allowed to let it rip. But maybe that’s just getting greedy.
