Christian Watson, George Pickens in Packers-Steelers Spotlight
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Having traded Davante Adams, the Green Bay Packers entered the 2022 NFL Draft in desperate need of a receiver. Having focused on the defense with Quay Walker and Devonte Wyatt in the first round, general manager Brian Gutekunst knew it was time to act aggressively entering Friday’s second round.
So, he packaged his two second-round picks in a trade with NFC North-rival Detroit to select North Dakota State’s Christian Watson.
Later in the round, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Georgia’s George Pickens.
It’s easy to see what both teams liked in those players. It’s equally easy to see why both teams need to get them involved – not just for Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh but the rest of the season.
At 6-foot-4 1/8 and with 4.36 speed in the 40, Watson was an elite size-speed prospect. Because of the nature of the NDSU offense, he wasn’t used a lot as a receiver and had almost no experience against NFL-caliber defensive backs, but defenses had to respect his stretch-the-field ability and his proven taste for blocking.
At 6-foot-3 1/4 and with 4.47 speed in the 40, Pickens also had an excellent physical skill-set. He was battle-tested in the SEC with borderline elite ball skills and physicality.
Pickens had a strong rookie season with 52 catches for 801 yards and four touchdowns, and he’s been even better this season with 30 receptions for 521 yards and three touchdowns. He’s sixth in the NFL with 17.4 yards per catch and has three 100-yard games. He’s dropped just one pass and has provided almost all of Pittsburgh’s deep passing game.
“Pickens has shown that big-play potential,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said.
As Pickens goes, so goes the Steelers. In the team’s three losses, he caught 9-of-19 targets for 83 yards. In last Thursday night’s win over Tennessee, however, he caught two passes for minus-1 yard.
Pickens wants the ball more often – and Steelers coach Mike Tomlin would like to make it happen – but opposing defenses have a say in where the ball gets thrown.
“He dictates oftentimes that it’s two-on-one football,” Tomlin said this week. “It’s an 11-on-11 game so, when he’s getting that type of attention, a guy like Diontae (Johnson) is going to have an opportunity to have volume catches, or you’re going to have an opportunity to have a light box and your run game is going to have an opportunity to be effective.
“And so, man, we appreciate his talents (and) we respect what people do to minimize his talents, but we function as a collective. And there’s some benefits for our collective when people make the type of commitment that they made recently to try to minimize his impact on the game.”
The Packers are waiting for Watson to have that kind of impact. Indeed, that was the expectation after a superb second half to his rookie season. Over the final eight games, he had seven touchdown receptions and topped 100 yards three times.
During that span, he caught 31-of-52 targets (59.6 percent) for 523 yards (16.9 average). During the first eight games of this season, he’s played in five and caught 12-of-26 targets (46.2 percent) for 213 yards (17.8 average) and one touchdown.
As is the case with Pickens and the Steelers, the Packers’ hopes of getting hot and making a run at a playoff berth – or even building momentum for next season – will depend on Watson.
While Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks, Jayden Reed and Luke Musgrave are talented players with plenty of upside, it’s Watson, with that ability to get behind the defense in an instant or outrun defenders with the ball in his hand, who is the team’s field-tilting player.
“Watson is a take-the-top-off-the-coverage guy,” Tomlin said.
However, aside from a 77-yarder at Las Vegas on a busted coverage, Watson hadn’t really made a single noteworthy play until his leaping 37-yard catch against the Rams. The hope is that play which snapped his worst-in-the-NFL rut on contested catches, can jump-start Watson into the second half of the season.
And that, in turn can jump-start an offense that hasn’t surpassed 20 points since Week 2.
“I think it’s huge for him” quarterback Jordan Love said. “Being able to go up and make a play like that, a 50/50 ball, he went up and made a great catch. I think everybody wants to make those plays and it’s a great feeling when you do make those plays. That’s been a challenge that we’ve been on him about is making those plays down the field, and that was a great example of it. I think there will be more of those plays going forward.”
A big challenge awaits Pickens and Watson on Sunday. For Pickens, it’s the prospect of facing Jaire Alexander and a Packers defense that has held the likes of Davante Adams (four catches, 45 yards), Cooper Kupp (two catches, 48 yards), Puka Nacua (three catches, 32 yards) and D.J. Moore (two catches, 25 yards) in check.
For Watson, the challenge is more internal. The Steelers have allowed four games of 125-plus receiving yards, including 172 by Adams and 154 by Nacua. Can one impressive catch be the catalyst to a repeat of last year’s sterling second half?
“We’ve just got to keep it going,” he said. “You’ve got to be able to build and grow and still be able to learn from games like that. Obviously, there are still things that we could have done better.
“So, if we just take the energy and everything we had going last week and we take another step forward this weekend, then we’ll be on the right track and closer to be able to get that dub. The No. 1 thing I can say for me and what I’ve done, like last year when I was having success, is just keep it going and keep it growing.”
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