2022 Second Round Pick, #34, Christian Watson Discussion Thread

[bobblehead]

True, but I suspect at the urging of Pettine. "Hey, I know a guy".

Was Pettine with KC when Smith was churning out those OLBs that had all the sacks there?

[texaspackerbacker]

Am Iin the right place? The Christian Watson thread?

I strongly wanted them to draft Watson. I was glad when they did. And I'm NOT negative about him like some in here now. The guy has the potential to be great, and I think he will live up to that potential.

[Sparkey]

Great game by Watson. Going up and fighting for the ball, being aggressive and decisive on routes! Excellent footwork to get both feet in on the sideline catch. Hopefulyl the start of next year is not hamstring issues again. They could be the reason he started so slow each of the last two years.

[Joemailman]

Great game by Watson. Going up and fighting for the ball, being aggressive and decisive on routes! Excellent footwork to get both feet in on the sideline catch. Hopefulyl the start of next year is not hamstring issues again. They could be the reason he started so slow each of the last two years.

Just in general, I think being in and out of the lineup, in and out of practice has slowed his development.

[run pMc]

He's starting to move past "MVS 2.0" status.
He's not a WR1 though. Not yet.

I think getting him started early and also balancing the out the targets on offense isn't a terrible strategy for his confidence, which should be back now after the last few games. His hamstring looked like it was better also, earlier in the season he didn't look as fast as he does now.

At worst, he's an overdraft. He's not a bust and I don't understand why Packer fans were hating on him. The WR group would have benefitted from a vet in the room for sure, but it would have cost them developmental snaps which are starting to pay off.

[texaspackerbacker]

He hasn't needed to be WR1. Doubs, Wicks, and Reed have sort of over-performed and combined to fill that role or looking at it another way, Love has done a Rodgers-esque of spreading it around or looking at it in a negative way, Love can't throw it deep with enough consistency to take advantage of Watson's speed.

I pretty much agree with your assessment of him.

[RashanGary]

I think worst case he plays 8 years in the league (31 years old.) That’s when his explosiveness will go way down and his speed will drop off a bit too.

While he’s young, he does enough things well to play in the league and be an 800 yard guy. Maybe more once or twice.

He’s fast. He’s explosive. He’s a good blocker. He’s a good locker room guy. He’s smart, so as Love starts building more complexity with the more veteran offense, Watson will only get better. So he does a lot of things well.

He’s always going to be a guy who can clear a safety. Against man defense, he’s always going to be a guy who can fly across the field on long crossers and no one can keep up on those routes. In a dome where there is less wind, he can kinda track the ball too.

But, he’s not, has never been, and I don’t think ever will be a strong hands guy or good at tracking the ball outside. He’s been too consistently the same guy in college and the NFL and I don’t think those are traits we’re going to see go away. So he’ll always be limited and always be disappointing at times.

Better than MVS, but closer to MVS than Tyreek Hill.

Love’s contract is going to be top 5 QB money. Probably 49M per year. But that contract is going to average in the last year of his current deal so it’ll be 5 years 42M per year average.

With the quickly increasing salary cap, that will be very affordable. I think we can afford to keep Watson around on the middle of the road contract he’ll demand. That take the top off quality and the man beater speed and the blocking…. He’s a nice piece.

I don’t expect him to be great. If you’re looking for a reliable #1, Jayden Reed is that guy.

[texaspackerbacker]

Tyreek Hill is not the comparison. That would be Randy Moss or Calvin Johnson for Watson. Yeah, he obviously ain't there yet, but I think he potentially could be down the road.

I agree about Love's future status and salary, and I'm all for it.

[RashanGary]

Tyreek Hill is not the comparison. That would be Randy Moss or Calvin Johnson for Watson. Yeah, he obviously ain't there yet, but I think he potentially could be down the road.

I agree about Love's future status and salary, and I'm all for it.

Moss is one of the greatest players to ever play the game. I don’t even know if speed was his top trait. His top trait might have been how unstoppable he was at adjusting, getting position and then snagging the 50/50 ball. Watson will NEVER be even a poor man’s Randy Moss. That’s not who he is. It’s not.

[texaspackerbacker]

Oh, I wouldn't be so sure hahahaha. I didn't say he'd be as good as Moss, but he's the same kind of player, and it wouldn't surprise me if he came close.

[bobblehead]

He hasn't needed to be WR1. Doubs, Wicks, and Reed have sort of over-performed and combined to fill that role or looking at it another way, Love has done a Rodgers-esque of spreading it around or looking at it in a negative way, Love can't throw it deep with enough consistency to take advantage of Watson's speed.

I pretty much agree with your assessment of him.

Rodgers hasn't "spread the ball around" like Love is in about 8 years. He locks in on Adams, and when Adams was gone he sucked ass all year. More like spreading around like a YOUNG Rodgers did.

[bobblehead]

Moss is one of the greatest players to ever play the game. I don’t even know if speed was his top trait. His top trait might have been how unstoppable he was at adjusting, getting position and then snagging the 50/50 ball. Watson will NEVER be even a poor man’s Randy Moss. That’s not who he is. It’s not.

Moss was the fastest player in the league most years he played.

That said, Mike Evans is the best comp for Watson. Faster than Evans, but similar. I see a slew of 1k to 1200 yard seasons in his future, but never 90 catches.

[RashanGary]

Moss was the fastest player in the league most years he played.

That said, Mike Evans is the best comp for Watson. Faster than Evans, but similar. I see a slew of 1k to 1200 yard seasons in his future, but never 90 catches.

I’m going to go hard against this comp. Evans is surprisingly effective at getting early separation for a big guy. And he snags tight contested throws at a very high rate.

I see a body type comp. I could see Watson being about 215, maybe even 220 in his prime. But that’s where that comp ends. Watson is horrible on contested balls. And average to below at getting early separation.

With Watsons weaknesses, I don’t see him going over 1,100 EVER. He looks like a #2, #3 sort of splash guy who disappoints a lot of the time.

[texaspackerbacker]

Moss was the fastest player in the league most years he played.

That said, Mike Evans is the best comp for Watson. Faster than Evans, but similar. I see a slew of 1k to 1200 yard seasons in his future, but never 90 catches.

This must be your acorn for the day hahahaha. Yes, I agree with the Mike Evans comparison - for now. Going forward, I'd say that's about the low end for Watson - not a bad low end. I guess Moss may have been the fastest in the league. How many faster than Watson are there now? Not many I suspect, and probably none of them 6'5" or so.

As I said, with all those other really good receivers, Watson may not need to catch 90 or more.

[run pMc]

I'm with RG on this one. He's not Evans, who is both physical and fast, and he's not Moss or Tyreek either.
He's built like Moss and fast like Moss, but he doesn't have the games of Moss, Evans or Hill.

They can spread the ball around, yes yes fine. I don't think Doubs is more than a WR3, Wicks is a WR2 at best unless he develops into Davante 2.0, and Reed is a slot guy... so he's not a WR1 either -- he'll be off the field in 12 personnel and Doubs/Watson will get the snaps.
It becomes a situation where you don't have a top wideout. Maybe they can get away with that... but the fact is Gute spent 2 R2 picks to draft him so you'd hope he could develop into a WR1.

I have doubts he'll get there. To be clear, I don't think he was a bad pick or that he's a poor player. I think he won't reach his full potential... few players do.

Right now Watson is closer to Torrey Smith or MVS than a top 10 WR. Comparing him to something like Mike Evans (who was a 1000yd receiver as a rookie, and has been every year since) is crazy.
The development curve for him is bigger coming from NDSU, he didn't have contested catch opportunities there, he didn't have to run much of a route tree. He's lean muscle-- he's almost like a track athlete. He still has to learn how to build up his body and take care of it as a pro player. He might figure all that out and be a great receiver, but probability is against it. He might be 'good' and I guess it's a question of whether that's enough given what they gave up to get him.