Christian Watson gets murky 2025 injury update after torn ACL

The Green Bay Packers had a solid 2024 campaign. Green Bay finished the regular season 11-6 and made the playoffs as as Wild Card team. Unfortunately, they got bounced in the first round the Eagles. Now they prepare for an offseason where plenty of questions need to be answered.

Packers WR Christian Watson’s outlook for the 2025 season is currently a major unknown heading into the offseason. In a recent article on ESPN, Rob Demovsky wrote that Watson “is not likely to be recovered from his torn ACL by the time the season starts.”

Watson suffered his torn ACL in Week 18’s loss against the Bears. Now there isn’t a clear timeline for when Green Bay can expect Watson to return.

Watson has failed to live up to expectations in Green Bay. The Packers traded up in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft to select Watson. Packers fans hoped he could be their WR1 moving forward. Instead, Watson has struggled with inconsistency, drops, and health issues throughout his young career.

Watson’s best season as his rookie year, when he hauled in 41 receptions for 611 yards and seven touchdowns. He has failed to have 30+ receptions in each of the past two seasons.

The Packers return all of their receivers from the 2024 season, so they already know what life without Watson looks like. However, this injury may cause the Packers to consider adding another receiver during the offseason.

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst doubles down on wide receiver take

Brian Gutekunst has long thought that the Packers do not need an alpha WR1. He doubled down on that take when talking about Watson and the receiver position heading into the offseason.

“I think we have some of those guys, and I think we don’t have just one,” Gutekunst said via Rob Demovsky. “I think historically if you look at a lot of the teams, very rarely do teams that have one receiver that’s super heavy with targets, that doesn’t usually play out well for playoffs and success there.”

Even so, Packers fans have been pleading for a WR1 for years. This could be the offseason to finally look at adding one to an already good offensive unit.

“[If] that makes some sense for us, we’ll certainly look to do that,” Gutekunst continued. “But we’re also looking for these guys to continue to grow and hopefully grow into that space.”

Gutekunst wants football players who are consistent and can help the Packers control games.

“This is really more for our football team and an offense as a whole, but just consistency, being able to control the game whenever we need to control the game,” Gutekunst concluded.

Packers fans are hopeful that this is the offseason where their team adds an elite wide receiver.