Green Bay Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur spoke with the media following Wednesday’s practice. Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson was looking for answers after missing almost half of the 2023 season because of a hamstring issue that wouldn’t go away. He seems to have found them.
During the off-season, the 25-year-old wide receiver went to the University of Wisconsin, Madison to work with researchers who study hamstring injuries in professional football players. He wanted to find out why he kept getting hurt.
Watson said this week at OTAs that he learned that a lot of his problem was caused by the fact that his legs aren’t as strong as they should be.
At the time, his right leg, which had been hurt for a long time, was 20% weaker than the other leg. Watson said this can lead to many problems, especially if a player can’t fully recover strength after an injury.
“For me, it was the difference in size between the legs,” Watson told ESPN. “Many things cause it.” Of course, the problems I’ve had with my hamstrings in the past have kept me from fully healing in terms of my strength. I’ve only been working on my strength to regain that balance, and it’s made a big difference for me. I feel good. I just need to keep making progress.
Watson was picked by the Packers in the second round of the 2022 draft. He missed three games as a rookie because of a leg injury, but he still caught 41 passes for 611 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 14.9 yards per catch.
#Packers injury update: WR Christian Watson has been taken to the locker room with a chest injury, back injury, & is being evaluated for a concussion. #LARvsGB
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) November 5, 2023
During his junior year, he started missing a lot of games because of injuries that wouldn’t go away.
Watson missed the first three games of 2023, but he was able to play in the next nine games and had 28 catches for 422 yards and five touchdowns. Watson missed the last five games of the regular season because of a leg injury that came back.
He was ready for the Packers’ playoff run, but he didn’t do much to help. In Green Bay’s two playoff games, he only made one catch.
“I was a little bit down in my right leg to the left,” he said. “For one thing, it strains the left side, which has a lot more going on.” The second thing is that when you try to be similar in power, the weaker person is under a lot more hardship. That’s been the most important thing for me because it makes me tired too. “Getting rid of that has been my No. 1 goal because it’s a bad place to be.”
Watson said that the difference between his legs is now closer to 10%. He plans to keep working to get it even smaller. That would be great if he could stay healthy through the summer and into the fall. Fans of the young wide receiver are eager to see what he can do as the starting wide receiver for the whole season.
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“IÂ feel like I’m at 100 percent, just in terms of what I’m able to do on the football field right now,” he said. “But there is still a bit of an imbalance there, and Green Bay Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur spoke with the media following Wednesday’s practice. that’s something I’m working on with the trainers in the weight room.” That doesn’t stop me from doing anything else, though. I just need to keep working on that so there are no risks in the future.
