Christian Watson might not be the Green Bay Packers’ best receiver but he’s certainly the most irreplaceable.
Set aside Josh Jacobs’ headline-grabbing statement that the Packers need to add a No. 1 receiver this offseason. If nothing else, they need to find a big-play receiver this offseason.
Getting one won’t be easy. It might not be impossible, but close to it, a reality that could impact the Packers deep into 2025 as Watson travels the long road of ACL recovery.
Because of a knee injury, Watson missed Week 17 at the Minnesota Vikings. Watson returned for Week 18 against the Chicago Bears and suffered a torn ACL. Obviously, he didn’t play against the Philadelphia Eagles in the playoffs.
The result? Three consecutive losses. After scoring at least 30 points in five consecutive games, the Packers scored 25 against the Vikings (with three points at halftime), 22 points against the Bears (with 13 points through three quarters) and 10 points against the Eagles (with zero points at halftime).
The Packers finished the regular season ranked fourth with 55 completions of longer than 20 yards. They had just five of longer than 20 yards during the three-game skid.
Whether it’s free agency in March or the draft in April, the Packers will need to find a big-play receiver. Not just a fast receiver – with 4.34 speed in the 40, Bo Melton is plenty fast – but a good receiver who is fast.
The top receivers who will be available in free agency won’t offer much help.
Tee Higgins and the Cincinnati Bengals are working toward a long-term contract extension. With 4.54 speed, Higgins is big but he’s not especially fast. According to PFF, he caught eight passes on balls thrown 20-plus yards downfield the last two seasons.
Chris Godwin, who will turn 29 this month and is coming off a season-ending ankle injury, has averaged 12.5 yards per catch during his eight seasons. In 2022, he topped 1,000 yards while averaging less than 10 yards per catch. Of his 62 receptions last year, zero were on passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield.
Amari Cooper, who will turn 31 in June, caught 20 passes in eight games with Josh Allen and the Bills and was a nonfactor in the playoffs. He can still stretch the field; in 2023 with Cleveland, he caught 13-of-24 deep passes.
Stefon Diggs is 31 and coming off a torn ACL. He averaged 10.6 yards per catch in eight games in 2024. In 2023, he caught just 6-of-24 deep passes.
DeAndre Hopkins, who will turn 33 in June, caught 41 passes and averaged 10.7 yards per catch in 10 games with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, but was a total nonfactor in the playoffs. He caught five deep passes in 16 games, including 3-of-9 with the Chiefs.
Those are the top five receivers in free agency, according to PFF and The 33rd Team.
How about former Packers star Davante Adams in a potential trade? The 32-year-old caught 7-of-15 deep passes in 11 games with the Jets on the way to a fifth consecutive 1,000-yard season. He had a career-long 71-yard catch against the Jaguars in December.
Two second-tier players could be of interest: the Giants’ Darius Slayton and the Rams’ Demarcus Robinson.
Slayton, who turned 28 last month, was a fifth-round pick in 2019. In six seasons with the Giants, he’s never caught more than 50 passes or topped 770 yards. In 16 games in 2024, he caught 39 passes for 573 yards and two touchdowns and caught just 4-of-15 deep targets. He’s not a great receiver but he’s also never had a great quarterback. His career average is a strong 15.0 yards per catch.
Robinson, who will turn 31 early in the season, set career highs with 16.3 yards per catch and seven touchdowns in 2024. He caught 7-of-21 deep passes.
Mike Williams, the seventh pick of the 2017 draft, could be worth a Hail Mary, though he caught only 40 passes the last two seasons. The 30-year-old caught 5-of-11 passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield between the Jets and Steelers.
The draft class is unusually weak. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler called it a “pretty underwhelming” class when it comes to finding receivers who are good and fast (and not just fast). He mentioned Texas’ Isaiah Bond, Maryland’s Tai Felton, Auburn’s KeAndre Lambert and Tennessee’s Dont’e Thornton.
From that group, Bond probably will be the first drafted. He’s Brugler’s No. 94 prospect but a “complete wild card” who caught 2-of-14 deep targets last year.
However the Packers do it (or don’t do it), the receivers must play better in 2025 than they did in 2024 in order for the offense to be at its best, rather than at its worst, for the playoffs.
“A guy like Christian, when you take him off the field, things change a little bit,” Gutekunst said at the end of the season. “I think as we got to the last part of the season, we hit some walls. Obviously, there were some better teams in there, as well, but we struggled at the end.
“But there were times I think that we were very explosive, but that’s kind of the NFL, you know? There’s other teams on the other side of the ball, and they can limit you. Those coaching staffs, as we become explosive during a certain part of the season, they’re going to be studying those things. They try to stop us and they’re pretty good at their jobs, too.”
Too good, as it turns out. It will be up to Gutekunst to find the right player and coach Matt LaFleur to put those players in the right positions and to have answers for opposing coordinators.
