The Green Bay Packers offense has been missing key players every week thus far this season. For the first three weeks of the season, wide receiver Christian Watson was sidelined because of a nagging hamstring injury.
Watson reportedly suffered the injury before the NFL’s mandated rest period between training camp and the regular season. It led to him missing games against the Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints.
Without him in the lineup, the Packers passing offense was missing an explosive weapon. He was expected by many people to be the No. 1 option for quarterback Jordan Love; a versatile weapon with game-changing speed that can make plays down the field.
Deep balls were certainly missing from the Packers’ offense the first three weeks of the season, but that will hopefully change now that Watson has been able to get back onto the field. The North Dakota State product made his season debut on Thursday Night Football in Week 4.
Given how long he was sidelined for, the coaching staff had him on a snap count in the game. He was on the field to only 26 out of 57 plays, running 20 routes. Watson ended up catching two passes in the game for 25 yards and a touchdown.
His presence was felt in all areas of the field as he caught a 24-yard pass and a one-yarder in the red zone for a score. After the game, he said he was feeling good as things are trending in the right direction.
“Definitely gonna take advantage of these next couple days that we’re off and just find ways to come back so I can just go out there, be 100 percent confident in where my body’s at and just go out there and fly around,” Watson said.
The Packers won’t be on the field again until Monday Night Football in Week 5 against the Las Vegas Raiders. That gives Watson 11 days in between games, which should be plenty of time to get himself back to 100 percent healthy.
The plan, right now, is for him to be all systems go in Week 5 and handle a full workload. That would certainly be good news for the Packers, who lost tight end Luke Musgrave to a concussion against the Detroit Lions, putting his status up in the air.
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