It Took Nine Games for Christian Watson to Do What Hadn’t Been Done in Four Seasons

GREEN BAY, Wis. – It’s true that the Green Bay Packers haven’t had a 1,000-yard receiver since Davante Adams in 2021. It’s more than that, though.

The Packers haven’t had a receiver reach even 860 yards since 2021.

Well, Christian Watson has put that sentence in the past tense.

Through just nine games and headed into Sunday’s rivalry showdown against the Minnesota Vikings, Watson has 879 receiving yards. That ranks third in the NFL. He’s on a pace to not just break the team’s 1,000-yard drought but to blow past it like a rocket blows past the speed of sound.

Watson is on pace to finish with 1,660 yards and 13 touchdowns. Only nine receivers in NFL history have hit 1,600 yards and 13 touchdowns in a season, though Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba is on pace to crush those numbers, as well.

It took Watson about half a season to obliterate his career-high 620 receiving yards from 2024 and match his career-high seven touchdowns catches from his rookie season in 2022.

The 1,000-yard marker has always been a notable milestone for running backs and receivers alike. Watson, however, is not impressed.

“Honestly, you’d have to ask me at the end of the season when I achieved that or surpassed that,” he said on Thursday a few days before Sunday’s showdown against the Vikings. “Right now, it’s not something I’m looking into too much.

“We’re only halfway through the season so just hitting 1,000 – for me, the way I’d look at it is getting 120 more yards for the rest of the season doesn’t really sound too exciting for me. It’d be something that I’ll look at it at the end of the season, but I’m excited about how much I’ve been able to be an impact for this team so far. Obviously, God willing, hopefully I’m able to continue to do that and celebrate the stats after the season.”

Watson is having a season worth celebrating.

Adams in 2021 set the franchise record with 1,553 receiving yards in 16 games, a 97.1-yard average. Watson is on pace to beat that number by more than 100 yards. In terms of receiving yards per game, Watson’s 97.7-yard average would rank fifth in Packers history; Don Hutson averaged 110.1 yards per game in 1942 and Billy Howton averaged 102.6 yards per game in 1952. During the Super Bowl era, only Adams’ 98.1 yards per game in 2020 would beat Watson’s production.

Christian Watson, Going Deep

Watson, of course, has made a killing in the vertical passing game. On passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield, Watson has caught 10-of-19 targets for 382 yards and three touchdowns. He’s third in catches, first in yards, tied for first in touchdowns and 10th in catch percentage (out of 45 receivers targeted at least eight times).

After the New England game, coach Matt LaFleur said the Packers were turning low-percentage throws into high-percentage plays.

With his size, speed and skill, Watson has changed the math.

“I think theoretically it’s a low-percentage throw when you look at it across everybody doing it,” Watson said. “I think if you really dive into individually, it’s going to be a higher percentage for certain individuals and a lower percentage for other individuals.

“I think it’s just something that we got a lot of reps at. Obviously, something that we’ve built a lot of trust in that area so, at the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to: Obviously, 10 [Jordan Love] just trusting us to go make a play. I think we’ve got a lot of banked reps in that area. That’s obviously been a big part of our explosiveness in our offense, a big part of our offense in general. We’ve done it a lot so, obviously, we rely on each other in those moments when we need those plays.”

Incredibly, Watson is 5-of-5 in contested-catch situations on the deep passes, so it’s not as if it’s been a bunch of wide-open connections.

Watson rather sheepishly admitted to being impressed by some of his catches, whether it was the bomb for his second touchdown against Chicago or last week’s one-hander on a crossing route.

“It’s definitely times where, obviously, made a big play,” Watson said. “Obviously, I like to say that I expect myself to make those plays all the time but it’s definitely times where I look back and a little proud of myself for making that kind of play or that level of play. Probably the answer that you don’t want is I expect myself to make those plays. That’s usually my first thought is really just excitement overall.”

Huge Test vs. Vikings

The Packers will face a big challenge against the Vikings on Sunday. Minnesota in first in the league in touchdown passes allowed and opponent passer rating and second in passing yards allowed per attempt.

The Vikings have allowed only one 100-yard receiving game all season. That was Watson’s 147 yards in Week 1.

Their blitz, blitz, blitz-some-more scheme has made life hell on quarterbacks. However, the Vikings’ all-blitz defense also leaves voids in the secondary if everyone can take care of business. That’s easier said than done, obviously, considering the Vikings are No. 1 in points allowed, but the Packers made a bunch of big plays in the Week 1 loss.

“Honestly, it gives us a lot more opportunities, to be honest – obviously, as long as we take care of things up front,” Watson said. “We definitely have to be more on top of things, too, just being able to recognize that stuff with adjustments to our routes and stuff like that, too. If we handle it the right way, it’ll be opps for us, for sure.”

If the Packers handle it the right way, Watson might be walking off the field on Sunday with his first 1,000-yard season and the team might be celebrating its seventh win.

No team has ever blitzed as much as this year's Vikings, and they have blitzed Packers QB Jordan Love with even greater frequency.

How can the Packers survive the world of chaos from which the Vikings thrive? ⬇️https://t.co/LJbnZ5pJd9 pic.twitter.com/62IrmGGXfR
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 13, 2026

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