Packers wide receiver Christian Watson.
The Green Bay Packers may have dodged a bullet with starting wide receiver Christian Watson and the chest injury that sent him to a local hospital in the aftermath of their 34-26 road loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 15.
Watson suffered his injury in the third quarter against the Broncos when he tried to secure a deep ball from quarterback Jordan Love and wound up landing hard on his left shoulder after cornerback Pat Surtain II cut him off and made a leaping interception.
Afterward, Watson remained down on the field, writhing in pain and clutching his left shoulder. The Packers initially ruled him questionable to return with a chest injury, but they downgraded him to out roughly 15 minutes after issuing their first update on him.
Things only grew more concerning when Watson took an ambulance to a local hospital in the postgame for further examination of his injury. Encouragingly, though, ESPN’s Rob Demovsky later reported on X that Watson would fly home with his teammates.
Watson’s father also took to social media to reassure fans — and disappoint “haters” — about his son’s chest injury, indicating it was not as bad as it seemed in the game.
“You haters aren’t going to get what you want tonight,” he wrote on X. “#9 is fine!”
You haters aren’t going to get what you want tonight… #9 is fine!
Christian Watson Has Been on Fire Since ACL Return
The Packers will have caught a huge break if Watson’s injury looked worse than it was. After all, he has been one of their top playmakers since returning to the mix in October.
While there were questions about how effective Watson would be once he completed his return from last January’s ACL tear, the 2022 second-round pick has put them to rest in the eight games since he rejoined the active roster on October 25. He has caught 28 passes for 481 yards and five touchdowns in that span and could set career-highs in all three areas if he holds his pace uninterrupted in the final three regular-season games.
It has been more than simple production, too. Watson was the energizer for the Packers in their 28-21 win over the Chicago Bears, during which he caught all four of his passing targets and scored two touchdowns as one of Green Bay’s primary momentum drivers.
While the Packers still have three more regular-season games and a potential playoff run to complete their 2025 evaluation on Watson, they should feel good about their decision to pre-emptively sign him to an extension in September during his recovery. They signed him to a one-year deal worth roughly $13.9 million that will only count about $6.96 million against their salary cap in 2026, according to Over the Cap.
That’s a steal for a wide receiver of his quality, especially if he overcomes his chest injury from Week 15’s loss and stays on fire for the final stretch of the campaign.
Christian Watson Was Not Packers’ Only New Injury
The Packers seem to have gotten encouraging news about Watson’s condition, but he is not the only injured player who dropped out of Week 15’s road loss to the Broncos.
During the matchup, the Packers also lost right tackle Zach Tom, safety Evan Williams and All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons to knee injuries. Head coach Matt LaFleur said in the postgame that he believed both Tom and Williams avoided long-term injuries, but the initial fear with Parsons is that he tore his ACL and is done for the season.
“Yeah, it doesn’t look good,” LaFleur said. “I’ll leave it at that.”
Losing Parsons would be a cruel twist for the Packers after they paid a premium to add him from the Dallas Cowboys before the start of the season. He has proven worth every bit of the price they paid to get him over the past 15 weeks, recording 12.5 sacks and 79 pressures — the latter of which ranks second among all pass rushers in the league.
The Packers could divulge more details about their four new injuries when LaFleur talks with the media for his regular weekly press conference on Monday, December 15.
Jordan J. Wilson is a sports reporter who covers the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. He has previously covered all levels of sports — high school, college and pro — for a variety of publications including The Indianapolis Star, The News-Gazette, Springfield State-Journal Register and Peoria Journal Star. More about Jordan J. Wilson
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