During the Green Bay Packers’ 31-29 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, wide receiver Christian Watson suffered an injury. What’s the latest on Watson’s status, and is he expected to miss some time?
The Latest on Christian Watson’s Injury
Watson spent the offseason trying to correct his longstanding hamstring issues, only to suffer an ankle injury on a freak play in Week 4. Watson’s left leg was stuck underneath a Minnesota Vikings defender on a late-first-quarter interception of Jordan Love.
Packers WR Christian Watson suffered an injury on this play.
Green Bay’s leading receiver from a week ago was carted off the field.pic.twitter.com/K6XtsWZgVh
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) September 29, 2024
While Watson left the field on his own, he was limping as he went to the blue medical tent along Green Bay’s sideline. After a short evaluation, Watson took a cart back to the Packers’ locker room.
“I have talked to Christian, and he told me it thought it was just a sprain,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said in his postgame news conference.
Watson is believed to have suffered a high-ankle sprain, reports Jordan Schultz of The Score. High-ankle sprains are typically viewed as four-to-six-week injuries.
It’s good news that the fourth-year WR didn’t suffer a more serious injury, but Watson is expected to miss time and is a candidate for injured reserve.
Watson missed practice on both Wednesday and Thursday, which isn’t a huge surprise. We should get a better idea of his recovery timeline later this week.
Fellow Packers receiver Dontayvion Wicks is in line for more snaps with Watson sidelined. Wicks, a 2023 fifth-round pick, brought in five catches and two touchdowns on a whopping 13 targets on Sunday.
The Packers have deployed 11 personnel (three WRs) on 75.2% of their offensive plays through the first four weeks of the season, the NFL’s sixth-highest rate. Wicks will be on the field alongside Jayden Reed and Romeo Doubs.
Kyle Soppe’s Fantasy Outlook on Watson
“The greatest ability is availability.”
Cliches are corny, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be accurate. Watson was active for 23 of 34 games through the first two seasons of his career, with a series of soft-tissue injuries resulting in the missed time.
We were told this summer that there was a muscle imbalance in his legs that he addressed and that we should be confident that his hamstring issues were a thing of the past — but now Watson is dealing with a high-ankle sprain.
I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but continued lower-body injuries for a player who relies on his physical tools feel like a problem.
We know that the Packers want Watson on the field and that they believe they have their franchise signal-caller under center, a thought process that should keep Watson on fantasy rosters while we await further information on this injury.
That said, it’s entirely possible that his greatest contribution to our fantasy world this season is sitting out, thus adding some clarity to the target hierarchy in Green Bay and allowing his talented teammates to get the chance to break out.
With or without Watson, Jayden Reed should be viewed as the alpha playmaker of the receiver group. And based on the usage from last week, managers should feel great about Wicks, who is second in command for Week 5 and perhaps beyond.