Packers-Giants Thursday Injury Report: Worries for Christian Watson?

The Green Bay Packers added Christian Watson to their injury report on Thursday and the New York Giants have some significant concerns looking ahead to Sunday.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) makes a reception for a first down against the Eagles. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers added receiver Christian Watson to the injury report as limited participation with hamstring and knee issues on Thursday.

After practice, Watson made it a point to talk to reporters.

Boiled down, he’s fine.

“They got to do what they got to do,” Watson said. “I definitely, if it were up to me, I’m not injured. They just got to do what they got to do. I’m good. I have no worries in terms of where I’m going to be at for Sunday. Just precautions, I guess, for them.”

Watson said he’s “just sore” after playing 56 snaps during Monday’s loss to the Eagles. Playing in his third game back from a torn ACL, Watson played the third-most snaps of his career and his highest total since his rookie season.

“I definitely just say I’m still in kind of the ramp-up phase coming back from the ACL and whatnot,” he said. “I just feel sore. I got a decent amount of snaps in the game and everything.”

Will he play on Sunday against the Giants?

“Oh, yeah,” he said.

Watson has been targeted four times in all three games. He’s caught 8-of-12 passes for 188 yards, a career-high 23.5 yards per catch. In each game, he averaged more than 20 yards per catch with a long of at least 25 yards.

“It’s been good,” he said. “I’ve told the trainer, I’ve told the strength staff I like being just football sore and not ACL and knee sore. So, it’s been fun for me to get back to regular football and I’ve been enjoying it. It’s just good to be back out there.”

Dealing with some soreness was the expectation after the long layoff, so that’s probably why Watson took these injuries – or whatever you want to call them – in stride.

“Obviously, I’ve been limited to a capacity for 10 months, so it’s definitely not going to feel like I’ve been training year-round like I had been in the past,” he said. “So, it’s definitely expected to have things come up – just feel a little bit more sore here, a little bit more sore there.

“I’ve just got to be mindful of that, and I think they usually say you don’t feel 100 percent til you get to that second year after your surgery. I’m not a stranger to having to find ways to adjust and manage my body, so I’m just finding ways to stay as healthy as I can.

Sticking with the receivers, Matthew Golden was limited participation after sitting out the Philadelphia game with a shoulder injury.

“I feel pretty good,” he said. “I’m excited about being back on the field and being able to go out there and try to help the team as much as I can.”

Golden said he pushed to play last week.

“I never want to be off the field, obviously,” he said. “But it’s kind of just irritation and not being comfortable on the field with the injury that I had. So, definitely hard for me being off the field, but I feel like it helped me look at some things differently, probably slow the game down more for me.”

Defensive end Lukas Van Ness, who suffered a foot injury one month and one day ago against the Bengals, returned to practice.

“It felt great to be back out there,” he said.

With the return of Van Ness, only cornerback Nate Hobbs (knee) did not practice.

The Giants placed kicker Graham Gano on injured reserve and added three players to the injury list as limited participation. Two of them are starters, right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (pectoral) and linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (pectoral).

Six starters missed practice for a second consecutive game: quarterback Jaxson Dart (concussion), receiver Darius Slayton (hamstring), defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches (toe), linebacker Bobby Okereke (shoulder), outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux (shoulder) and safety Tyler Dubin (neck).

Okereke has a team-high 88 tackles and Nubin is second with 55. Thibodeaux finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2022, tallied a career-high 11.5 sacks in 2023 and a career-high 17 quarterback hits in 2024. He has only 2.5 sacks this year.

Packers Thursday Injury Report

Did not participate: CB Nate Hobbs (knee).

Limited: DE Kingsley Enagbare (knee), WR Matthew Golden (shoulder), DE Micah Parsons (pectoral), RT Zach Tom (back), DE Lukas Van Ness (foot), WR Dontayvion Wicks (calf), WR Savion Williams (foot).

Full: LB Edgerrin Cooper (foot), WR Romeo Doubs (chest), LB Quay Walker (calf), WR Christian Watson (knee/hamstring).

Giants Thursday Injury Report

Did not participate: QB Jaxson Dart (concussion), LB Chauncey Golston (neck), G Evan Neal (hamstring), S Tyler Dubin (neck), DT Rakeem Nunez-Roches (toe), LB Bobby Okereke (shoulder), WR Darius Slayton (hamstring), OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux (shoulder).

Limited: CB Paulson Adebo (knee), TE Daniel Bellinger (groin), RT Jermaine Eluemunor (pectoral), TE Thomas Fidone (foot), LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (pectoral), LB Neville Hewitt (foot), LB Victor Dimukeje (shoulder), C John Michael-Schmitz (shin).

Full: None.

Placed on injured reserve: K Graham Gano (neck).

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