The Green Bay Packers are optimistic about their chances to be competitive in 2024. After all, they finished the first season with Jordan Love as their starting quarterback with a 9-8 record and a spot in the NFL Playoffs. They also upset the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card round, proving to the rest of the league that, though they may be young, they are an up and coming force to be reckoned with.
Green Bay was able to accomplish a great deal in 2023 despite a number of setbacks. Aside from Love and his young offense struggling to find consistency early in the season, the Packers dealt with a number of injuries to key players on both sides of the ball.
The Green Bay Packers Experienced a High Number of Significant Injuries in 2023
On the defensive side of the ball, Eric Stokes and Jaire Alexander battled injuries all season with Stokes barely playing in three games. Alexander missed eight games himself, though one was due to suspension from the team. Both seem to have put their past issues, both physical and otherwise, behind them and look good in OTA’s.
On the offensive side of the ball, left tackle David Bakhtiari and running back Aaron Jones suffered different levels of injuries. Bakhtiari, of course, missed the rest of the season after Week One when he reinjured his surgically repaired knee. Jones strained a hamstring in Week One, but battled through various other injuries all season long.
Neither Bakhtiari nor Jones are back with the team this year.
Another player that missed significant time on offense was wide receiver Christian Watson. He missed the first three games of the season due to a hamstring injury, and then missed the final five games of the year with another one.
Over the offseason, both Watson and Stokes visited UW Madison to see a specialist and to find out why they were suffering so many leg injuries and what they could do to prevent it.
What Watson found out was staggering.
Green Bay Packers Wide Receiver Christian Watson Had a Vast Difference in Muscle Mass in His Legs
Wm. Glasheen USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
According to a report by ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, the tests Watson did at Wisconsin showed that there was a staggering difference in the muscle mass of his legs. This led to one of his legs, the right one, being more susceptible to injury.
Per Demovsky:
“Tests showed a muscle imbalance in his legs, which likely contributed to his problems. He has missed 11 games during his first two seasons, including eight last season, because of a pulled hamstring in his right leg.
“Shortly after Watson’s visit to UW, which in 2021 was given a $4 million grant by the NFL to study the prevention and treatment of hamstring injuries, he had a 20% difference in muscle mass between his right and left legs. Now, he says it’s between 8% and 10%.”
Demovsky also reports that Watson’s goal is to get the difference down to 6% by the start of the season.
It is also worth noting that the Packers fired their strength and conditioning coach this past offseason. They then hired Aaron Hill, who had been a strength and conditioning assistant with the San Francisco 49ers for the past five years.
NFL Analyst Claims This Is a Make or Break Year for Green Bay Packers Wide Receiver Christian Watson
Now entering his third NFL season, Watson has yet to fully reach the heights the Packers expected he would when they drafted him in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. This is not because he has been a bad player, but because injuries have kept him off the field too much.
His key to success will be eliminating those injuries, which will also help take the Packers’ offense up to the next level as well. The big question is whether or not he will be able to stay healthy.
In a recent article by Khristopher Knox of Bleacher Report, Watson is named as one of nine NFL players with the most to prove in 2024. Knox writes:
“Watson still has two years remaining on his rookie contract, but he could be running out of time to prove that he should be a part of Green Bay’s long-term future.
“If he hopes to establish himself as one of Love’s go-to targets, he’ll first have to show that he can stay healthy and be dependable on the field. Watson, it’s worth noting, provided a passer rating of only 71.4 when targeted last season.
“The challenge began at the start of OTAs, and the early reports are promising.
“Watson will have to continue pleasing the Packers throughout OTAs because he’s now playing catch-up in Green Bay’s young receiver corps. If he falters, he could face an uphill battle for a starting job in training camp.”
The Packers’ have a great young receiving core. Even if Watson does not start Week One, it should not be considered as a detriment to him. Green Bay’s wide receivers are proud of the fact that, in any given week, any one of them could be wide receiver one.
Watson has all the potential to be a bonified number one, but has not been able to achieve that level because of the imbalance of muscle mass in his legs. With that situation now being solved, he should be able to put himself in a class above the rest on the Packers’ roster.
