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Packers WR Christian Watson Hospitalized for ‘Precautionary’ Testing

Green Bay Packers receiver Christian Watson was on his way to a huge night against Carolina. 
Bill Huber|
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) reacts against the Carolina Panthers at Lambeau Field.
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) reacts against the Carolina Panthers at Lambeau Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers receiver Christian Watson was taken to a local hospital for “precautionary testing” following a chest injury sustained in the second quarter against Carolina.

Watson made a 53-yard catch midway through the second quarter. Rookie cornerback Will Lee IV, who gave up the catch, fell on Watson at the end of the play. 

Both players were shaken up; Watson stayed on the turf for a couple minutes before walking to the blue medical tent. After a few minutes inside the tent, he walked to the locker room and then walked into the back of an ambulance.

The same thing happened at Denver last season; he played the next week.

Watson had six catches for 100 yards in less than a quarter-and-a-half of action. He did fumble once, though the defense prevented the Panthers from scoring any points.

Watson entered the game tied for 17th in the league with 34 receptions but seventh with 595 yards, second with 17.5 yards per catch and tied for second with six touchdowns. Along with Thursday’s production, he has 40 catches for 695 yards and six touchdowns in eight games. That’s a 17-game trajectory of 76 receptions for 1,477 yards and 13 touchdowns.

“It definitely motivates me to keep going,” he said recently of a blistering pace to start the season. “But I mean, I'm just trying to continue to be the best version of myself, and I want to look back at the end of the season and be able to have those same comparisons rather than looking at it during the season.”

Before Thursday night’s game, Watson had played 17 games since the ACL injury that ended his 2024 season. He caught 69 passes for 1,206 yards and 12 touchdowns during that span.

“I’d probably say the toughest is those first couple days after surgery,” he said of his comeback. “Just the amount of pain that you're in, dealing with the uncomfortableness of it. But I mean, yeah, probably like just like a month or two into it when you can't really do anything. You're kind of doing the same basic things every day, and it doesn't really seem like there's that much progress.

“And honestly, I'd say another one of the toughest parts of it is when you're getting down to the wire. You're getting like month six or seven where you feel like you should be able to do a lot more, and there's still that last hump you have to get over. And it seems like it's, I don't want to say out of reach, but it seems like, ‘Two months isn't that long of a time. I should be able to do more,’ but it's kind of just trust in the process, and you get to that point eventually.”

Without Watson against Carolina, the Packers were down to Matthew Golden, Savion Williams, Bo Melton, J. Michael Sturdivan and Coleman Owen as the receivers. 

Despite a couple late incompletions, Jordan Love ended the first half 18-of-24 passing for 189 yards and two touchdowns, one apiece to Golden and tight end Tucker Kraft.

The Packers took a 20-10 lead into the break.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.