If you drafted Green Bay Packers WR Christian Watson in your fantasy football league, this has likely been an extremely frustrating start to the season for you. Watson has yet to suit up through the first three weeks, as he deals with a hamstring injury, and his status is under question for Week 4 as well. Let’s take a look update regarding Watson’s injury status and what it means for fantasy managers.
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Latest News Surrounding Christian Watson
With Watson seemingly being a game-time decision in Week 3, the hope was that he would be ready by the time Thursday Night Football came around. However, things got off to a bad start when he was listed as a predicted non-participant for practice on Monday.
Initial Packers injury report for #DETvsGB pic.twitter.com/K18Z2vQJnz
— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) September 25, 2023
It is worth noting that the Packers did not actually practice Monday, so this is just an estimated report of what their participation levels would have been if they were playing. However, it would be a surprise if the Packers underestimated his participation level.
The positive side of it is that this could just have been a precautionary rest plan that the Packers had in place. Last week, Watson opened as a limited participant before being downgraded to a non-participant and then seeing the field again in a limited capacity on Friday.
When Watson spoke to the media Thursday, he appeared optimistic that he would make his season debut in Week 4 against the Lions.
Will Watson Play This Week?
Heading into Monday, I felt more confident than not that Watson will at least be ready to dress for Thursday’s game. However, opening the week as a projected DNP is a blow to that. At the very least, we would have wanted to see Watson start the week projected as limited.
MORE: Fantasy Week 4 Buy Low, Sell High
The fact he is back to not participating raises concerns that during pregame routines, he aggravated the injury or that he has come up stiff from trying to get ready for last week. Either way, the early signs are not great. At best, Watson will likely be limited if he does suit up, but even that is not assured right now.
What Does This Mean for Watson’s Fantasy Ranking?
Quite simply, this news pushes Watson back down the PFN Consensus Fantasy Rankings. Chances are he was always going to be limited on Thursday. Expecting him to come back and have a full workload would have been somewhat naive. Now, he might play 10-15 snaps at the most.
However, with a long week to really work on getting him ready for Week 5, the Packers may decide they have enough offensive firepower without the man who had 611 yards and seven touchdowns in 14 games last year.
As for the rest of the offense, this is likely positive if you have Romeo Doubs or Jayden Reed on your roster. Doubs has found the end zone three times, adding 129 yards from 11 receptions. Meanwhile, Reed has two touchdowns and 148 yards on nine receptions.
It is hard to implicitly trust either of them, though. Doubs had just eight targets through the first two weeks before seeing 12 last week. He only managed to reel in five of those targets, which is unlikely to boost confidence in him from the team or fantasy managers going forward. Reed has seen 15 targets in the past two games but has just seven receptions.
Another sneaky option from this offense, if Watson misses the game, could be TE Luke Musgrave. The rookie tight end has caught 11 of his 15 targets for 124 yards so far this season. That might not win you many matchups, but it is certainly a solid return through three weeks at the TE position.