Has Packers' Christian Watson found source of recurring hamstring injuries?

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson has struggled to stay healthy since the team drafted him with the 34th overall pick two years ago, and he believes he has now figured out why.

Watson recently underwent eight hours of testing at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health, which in 2021 was given a $4M grant by the NFL to study hamstring injuries. The former North Dakota State star told reporters at OTAs this week that the tests showed a muscle imbalance in his legs, which may have been contributing to recurring hamstring injuries.

“For me, it really was the asymmetry between the legs,” Watson said Wednesday, per ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “It comes from a lot of things. Obviously, the issues I’ve had in the past with hamstrings, not fully recovering from those strength-wise. I’ve been attacking the strength side of it, trying to get that symmetry back and it’s been huge for me. I feel really, really good. I gotta continue grinding at it.”

The testing program at UW showed that Watson had a 20% different in muscle mass between his right and left legs. He said the muscle mass in his right leg was lower, which put more strain on his left. Watson has worked to reduce the difference to somewhere between 8-10%.

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said “time will tell” if Watson has discovered the key to preventing hamstring injuries. LaFleur has praised Watson for his progress this offseason, however, and Demovsky wrote that the 25-year-old “moved in and out of his breaks with explosiveness and without hesitation” during OTAs.

Watson has missed 11 games over his first two NFL seasons, including eight last year. He has been productive when healthy, catching an impressive 12 touchdowns in 23 games.

If Watson can stay on the field, he should be a huge difference-maker for Jordan Love and Green Bay’s offense in 2024.