Green Bay’s Christian Watson has shown that he can be one of the NFL’s top deep threats when his hamstrings are healthy.
The problem has been his inconsistent availability. Watson has missed 11 games due to hamstring issues in his first two seasons. “In my mind, if I’m able to be out there, I’m going to find a way to make plays,” Watson said.
After completing training camp without injury, Watson is hopeful that he now understands how to manage his hamstring problems better as the Packers get ready for their season opener on Friday against the Philadelphia Eagles in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
“This is how it’s supposed to be,” Watson said. “It’s supposed to be 100%. I want to play 100% of the games. I want to play 100% of the practices. I’m right where I want to be.”
This is a change from last year when a hamstring injury kept him out of the Packers’ first three games. His hamstring issues returned, causing him to miss the last five regular-season games, though he did come back for the playoffs.
Watson, 25, knew he needed to address the issue. He and Packers cornerback Eric Stokes visited the University of Wisconsin’s Badger Athletic Performance Center, which received a four-year, $4 million grant from the NFL’s scientific advisory board in 2021 to study the prevention and treatment of hamstring injuries.
That visit helped Watson realize that a lack of symmetry between his legs was making him more prone to these injuries.
Without specifically mentioning Watson’s case, Badger Athletic Performance Director Bryan Heiderscheit talked about how asymmetry could affect injury risk.
“Even without any sort of history of injury, you still probably have a little bit of asymmetry based on what you do in your daily life, the demands of your sport or what your position may be,” Heiderscheit said.
“It’s when those asymmetries get beyond what we would expect as normal or typical, or at a point where one side is so different from the other that it puts too much strain on other tissues.
In other words, if one side is much weaker than the other, it forces other tissues to do more work, leading to a cycle of chronic injury.”
Watson mentioned earlier this year that he found his left leg was about 20% stronger than his right, which caused extra stress on his left side and eventually led to fatigue.
He has since fixed that imbalance. “I got it down to pretty much perfectly symmetrical right before camp started,” Watson said.
Watson knows he will need to keep an eye on this issue throughout the season, but he’s hopeful he can play the whole season without any interruptions.
That would give the 2022 second-round pick from North Dakota State a chance to show the talent he displayed at the end of his rookie season, when he scored eight touchdowns (seven receiving, one rushing) in a four-game stretch.
The only other rookie to achieve that many touchdowns in a four-game period was Randy Moss in 1998.
He ended that rookie season with 41 catches for 611 yards and nine total touchdowns (seven receiving, two rushing). Watson couldn’t match that performance last season, with 28 receptions for 422 yards and five touchdowns in just nine games.
If Watson can remain healthy, he could play a key role in a strong receiving group that also includes Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, and Dontayvion Wicks, among others.
“He is an important part of what we do,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “He’s a big, physical, fast guy, and not many of those guys exist. So we certainly are a better offense when he’s at full strength.”
Watson feels more positive about his chances of staying in top form, and this has boosted his confidence.
“When you’re able to play a lot more free, you just have a lot more confidence, and I think that’s where I’m at,” Watson said. “I’ve played a lot of games, in my eyes, in the league. Enough to where I know what I’m capable of.”
