Raise your hand if you were counting on Christian Watson returning from his early season hamstring injury and boosting your fantasy team. Well, that makes two of us. After putting up some really promising efficiency metrics in his first year in Green Bay, Watson has struggled to gain any kind of foothold in the Packers offense through the first five games of his 2023 season. That’s culminated in five straight finishes outside the Weekly top-24, and things hit rock bottom for Watson in Week 9.
Since his return to the lineup in Week 4, Christian Watson has seen just a 16% target share in his five games played. That’s lower than teammate Romeo Doubs (19% in that same span), and just 3% higher than Jayden Reed and 2% higher than Luke Musgrave. Watson has yet to catch more than three passes in a game this season and has just one touchdown in 2023, which came in Week 4 when he saw just 46% of snaps.
Making matters worse is Jordan Love’s inaccuracy when it comes to delivering the ball to Watson, who’s 50% catchable target rate ranks 2nd-lowest among all wide receivers to run 140+ routes this season. Since Watson’s return, the Packers offense has averaged just 16 total points per game - in weeks 1-3, the Packers were averaging 26 points per game. Watson will have a chance to turn things around with still two more good matchups on tap in the next two weeks (@PIT, vs LAC), but seeing as he’s been unable to come through in similarly strong matchups over the past few weeks (@DEN, vs MIN), fantasy managers shouldn’t hold their breath on a sudden second half breakout.