Second-Round Stunner: Packers Trade Up for Christian Watson
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers took a pass on drafting a receiver with their two first-round picks on Thursday but made a bold move on Friday to address the weakest position on their team.
Green Bay moved to the second pick of the second round, No. 34 overall, to select North Dakota State receiver Christian Watson on Friday night, Day 2 of the NFL Draft.
The son of Tim Watson, a safety drafted by the Packers in 1993, Christian Watson is tall and fast – a great starting skill-set. He dominated the FCS ranks with a barrage of big plays against overmatched foes.
“It was surreal,” getting the phone call of a lifetime. “I’ve been playing this game since I was 4 years old. This is something that I’ve dreamed of since then. It was surreal. Obviously, to be able to be at such a successful and such a dominant and great organization is amazing, and I’m excited to be on the Packers. Obviously, being able to catch passes from one of the best to ever do it is something I’m definitely excited about. I feel like I’m going to be able to learn and grow a lot through not just him but all the other receivers and everyone else in the organization as well. I definitely couldn’t be more excited to go at it with Aaron Rodgers.”
At 6-foot-4 and with 4.36 speed in the 40, Watson has traits that defenses must be aware of on every snap. From that perspective, he at the very least will replace the long-ball skills of Marquez Valdes-Scantling. The Packers, obviously, are hoping for more.
The Packers hosted Watson on one of their 30 predraft visits.
“He came in here and he checked another box for us,” director of football operations Milt Hendrickson said of the visit. He added that Watson took a “significant” jump at the Senior Bowl, the premier annual all-star game, to answer level-of-competition questions.
“There aren’t as many guys on our board that he’s playing against. But he got a chance to do that at the Senior Bowl and he blew it out of the water,” Hendrickson said.
The Packers traded both of their second-round picks, No. 53 and No. 59 overall, to the rival Minnesota Vikings to get their man. The trade left Green Bay with its third-round pick at No. 92 to conclude Day 2. It will start Saturday’s fourth round with two picks.
Here is the story on Watson.
Measureables: 6-4 1/8, 208. 10 1/8 hands. 4.36 40, 4.19 shuttle, 38.5 vertical.
Stats: Playing for the run-first Bison, Watson caught 43 passes for 801 yards (18.6 average) and seven touchdowns as a senior. He returned two kickoffs for touchdowns as a junior and was a second-team All-American as a senior. For his career, he averaged 20.4 yards per reception.
Deeper Stats: According to PFF, he had four drops (8.5 percent), averaged 8.0 yards after the catch and had eight receptions on passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield. He averaged 13.5 yards per target and 14 missed tackles per 100 touches. It’s apples to oranges, but 166 receivers in FBS were targeted as many times as Watson in 2021. In that group, his 18.6 yards per catch would have ranked eighth, his YAC per catch would have ranked 10th, his 4.33 yards per target would have ranked No. 1 by 0.32 yards, and his 13.5 yards per target would have ranked 44th. On the other hand, his drop rate would have ranked 114th.
Personal Touch: Watson’s father, Tim Watson (now Tim Wajed), was a sixth-round draft pick by the Packers in 1993. “From the day I was born, I’ve been around football. It’s a love and a passion,” he said at the Senior Bowl. “My entire family’s life revolves around football. I just have a different love for the game of football. I really don’t see life for me outside of football in some way, shape or form. It has pushed me to try to be the best player I can be and make a name for myself and represent my family well by making a name for myself.”
How did this freakish athlete with NFL DNA wind up at North Dakota State?
“I was a late bloomer in high school,” Watson said at the Scouting Combine. “I didn’t really shoot up until my junior year. I went from 5-9, 140, to 6-1, 160, in a matter of months. So, I was a late bloomer. I just didn’t get that interest early from any Power 5 schools, big schools, and North Dakota State came in. They were one of the first schools that was talking to me and I fell in love with the program early and they fell in love with me, and I was a hundred percent committed to them.”
Those “matter of months” came from the end of his junior season to spring practice before his senior year.
"I'm out there watching practice with some other guys. I'm watching Christian thinking, 'This is a guy I can develop. This is a guy I can work with,'" then-NDSU receivers coach Atif Austin told InForum.com. "Then it starts raining. Just pouring. Everybody else leaves and I keep standing there watching Christian going through drills. I was so intrigued I stood in the rain thinking about the possibilities with this kid."
NFL Draft Bible Scouting Report: Tall and long legged wideout who lines up at X receiver and operates on a vertical route tree. Watson has great build up speed when he opens his long stride which he uses to run past coverage. His speed also makes him dangerous as a kickoff returner and should translate to other special team roles. Watson uses his hands to get past and stack defensive backs downfield. After the catch, he falls forward to gain extra yards.
