Yes, the Green Bay Packers have done a nice job of finding great receivers beyond round one of the draft. But none have walked through the door with bigger expectations and a more urgent need to develop quickly than 2022 second-rounder Christian Watson.
First-year Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich believes it will happen, sooner or later. Embedded in a comprehensive and insightful profile of Watson from Matt Schneidman of TheAthletic.com is this observation and prediction from Watson: “His combination of size and speed is great. He’s a big guy. He can move. He’s going to be a problem once he figures things out.”
The Packers need Watson to figure things out, quickly; if not, the problem will be theirs. And it could be a tall order for a guy who played college football at the FCS level. Suddenly, he’s in the NFL and he’s headed for the top of the depth chart, by necessity.
Necessity is the key word. It’s the mother of invention. And the Packers need Watson to quickly invent himself as a high-end NFL receiver.
That’s why I recently explained it’s important for quarterback Aaron Rodgers to be present for Organized Team Activities (i.e., football practice) in Green Bay. This two-sentence excerpt from Schneidman’s article underscores that reality: “Rodgers can simply glance at a receiver a certain way on the line of scrimmage, and it’s the receiver’s job to know that means to make a certain route adjustment. Meshing with a quarterback as cerebral as Rodgers requires time, and Watson may not have a lot of that before he needs to be the top target in games that count.”
Yes, it requires time. And that time should be happening now.
Again, it’s not a question of whether Rodgers needs to be there for his own sake. It’s whether Rodgers should be there for the sake of Watson and the other receivers who will be expected to fill the void created by the Davante Adams trade.
Ardent Packers fans can huff and puff about this opinion. The question is whether the team will be ready to not have its house blown down at Lambeau Field in the postseason. Every rep that Rodgers and Watson could be getting now could becomes a useful building block toward ensuring that the house, come January, is made fully and completely of brick.
