Love Must Find Sweet Spot With Explosive Watson

Green Bay Packers receiver Christian Watson is a game-changing player. However, the numbers show the risk outweighed the reward far too often.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson is shown during organized team activities on May 29. / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers must walk a fine line with Christian Watson, who has a No. 1 receiver skill-set but hasn’t proven to be a No. 1 receiver.

Watson’s game-breaking potential is obvious. Few receivers have his elite combination of size and speed. However, there was too much bust and too little boom last year. While Watson was seventh on the team with 28 receptions, five of Jordan Love’s 11 interceptions came on passes thrown to Watson.

With playoffs included, six of Love’s 12 interceptions were directed to Watson. Only Minnesota’s Jordan Addison and Washington’s Jahan Dotson, with seven apiece, had more. At least Addison caught 70 passes and scored 10 touchdowns. Watson caught only 28 passes with five touchdowns.

The Packers don’t have a No. 1 receiver. Maybe that true alpha receiver is on the roster, just waiting to be unleashed. But, by the textbook definition, they don’t have one.

And that’s OK. The Chiefs won the Super Bowl with a great quarterback throwing to an aging legend at tight end and a rookie receiver. For the Packers, there are enough passing-game weapons to overwhelm most secondaries so long as Love focuses on finding the open receiver rather than a specific receiver.

“I think that’s one thing that I’ve always tried to do is just play the play,” Love said this week at OTAs. “Play the play, go through my reads and find who’s open. Don’t try and force it, because I feel like once you try and lock in on a guy and force it, not great things happen and then you might miss somebody who might be open on the play.

“So, just trying to play the play out, stay true to it, read it out, find the open guy. I think these guys all understand that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m never trying to force it to one guy in particular. But play dependent, if there’s a certain guy, I might want to look at matchup-wise and things like that, I’ll go to him, but I just like to play it out.”

Which brings us back to last year’s stats and the interceptions on passes directed to Watson. When the Packers got rolling down the stretch, it was because Love threw 18 touchdown passes and only one interception during the final eight regular-season games. Watson missed the last five of those games.

In fact, in the eight games Watson missed, Love threw 17 touchdowns vs. two interceptions. When Watson played in nine consecutive games spanning Game 4 vs. Detroit through Game 12 vs. Kansas City, Love threw 15 touchdowns vs. nine interceptions.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the offense is better without Watson. Indeed, in his two final games of the regular-season, the upset wins vs. Detroit and Kansas City, Love threw completed about 69 percent of his passes for 535 yards with six touchdowns and zero interceptions. Watson caught 12-of-16 targets for 165 yards and three touchdowns.

With his ability to score on any play from any spot on the field, Watson is a field-tilting weapon. More than any player on the offensive side of the ball, he’s the one that will create gray hair for every defensive coordinator.

“He’s incredibly bright, which allows us to move him all over the place,” coach Matt LaFleur said recently. “Certainly, he brings the sheer size and physicality and speed that he possesses, you better know where he’s at at all times because all it takes is one play. If he gets a sliver of light, he’s able to outrun everybody on the defense. So, yeah, he definitely changes and tilts the field in our favor when he’s out there.”

Love said Watson makes a “Huge difference. That’s the key, is trying to stay healthy throughout the season, so we can have him out there every game, which is something I know he’s working hard on. He’s a difference-maker when he’s out there. He’s a playmaker.”

The key for the offense – other than keeping Watson on the field – will be finding that sweet spot between taking advantage of Watson’s game-changing potential but not forcing it. The wins vs. the Lions and Chiefs showed the potential; the season-ending interception at the 49ers showed the peril.

That Watson went through the entire offseason without a setback gave the Love-led offense time to build.

“We’re a better team when he’s out on the field, and I think everybody knows that around this building,” passing-game coordinator Jason Vrable said. “He’s had a great offseason, he’s in great spirits, and just keep growing with him.”

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The #Packers don't have an established No. 1 receiver. Does it matter? @JacobWestendorf has the answer. ⬇️https://t.co/aI7p7sqRxp

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) June 7, 2024

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