Packers announce good news about injuries to WR Sammy Watkins and Christian Watson

While Gutekunst did not offer any clarity on the nature of Sammy Watkins’ injury, he did emphasize that it is going to be a very short-term thing:

This is certainly good news, considering that one major concern of Sammy Watkins’ signing was his health. The eight-year NFL veteran has not played a full regular season’s worth of games since his rookie year back in 2014. Last season, Watkins played in 13 games and had 27 receptions for 394 yards and a touchdown. It was easily the worst season of his career. The 27-394-1 stat line consisted of career-lows in each category.

Of course, the Baltimore Ravens, whom Watkins played for last season, are a run first offense. It stands to reason that any wide receiver would see their numbers fall in that system. For comparison, Randall Cobb had 28 receptions for 375 yards and five touchdowns in just 12 games. If Watkins can stay healthy, he can certainly put up better numbers and revive his career.

Christian Watson

As for Christian Watson’s presence on the PUP list, the Packers have some cautiously good news. Per Gutekunst, the team and Watson decided that he should have a procedure during the offseason instead of pushing through the injury during the season.

To be clear, when Gutekunst said that he would “miss a little bit of time,” he meant that he would miss time in training camp. The Packers do not think he will miss any regular season games as a result of this injury.

The Packers Will Not Be Adding Anymore Wide Receivers

After news broke last night that Julio Jones had signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, many wondered if the Packers would explore the free agent market some more. After all, reports stated that they were in the running for Jones’ services.

However, per Rob Demovsky on Twitter, the Packers “really like” the group of receivers that they have. They will not be in the market for any more help at the position.

This means that the Packers will role into camp with Allen Lazard, Amari Rodgers, Cobb, Romeo Doubs, Samori Toure, Malik Taylor, Juwann Winfree, and Danny Davis as their healthy wide receivers. Additionally, the Packers signed USFL wide receiver Osirus Mitchell. Hopefully Watson and Watkins will not be out long.