Green Bay Packers fans can soon see wide receiver Christian Watson back in action in an NFL game. Watson, who suffered a torn ACL injury during a Week 18 game last season against the Chicago Bears, had his 21-day practice window opened by the Packers on Monday.
With that, Green Bay has three weeks to activate him to the 53-man roster. While it remains unlikely that Watson will play this coming Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, it’s definitely great news that he’s trending in the right direction.
Watson does not have to look far to find someone who has an idea about going on a long journey back to action after an ACL injury. Green Bay defensive lineman Rashan Gary suffered an ACL injury in 2022 and only returned to practice after nearly 300 days.
Gary recently opened up about what he said to Watson, who just inked a one-year, $11 million extension contract with Green Bay.
Via Rob Demovsky of ESPN:
“One thing about this thing, too, and I told Christian, is just the confidence, like you have to hit the field like nothing has ever happened to you,” Gary said. “That’s the only way you’re going to see if you’re ready. Thank God I had the confidence, had a great team and I worked my butt off, and I was ready.
“From what I’ve seen with Christian, I’ve seen him cutting and I’ve seen his runs looking a lot faster, explosive — I’m not going to tell him that yet — but he’s looking a lot faster, and I just can’t wait to get him back on the field because we need him.”
So far in his NFL career, Watson has 1,653 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns on 98 receptions and 172 targets through 38 games (35 starts).
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