Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur confirmed wide receiver Christian Watson will avoid landing on injured reserve after suffering a scary-looking ankle injury in Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
The Packers are fortunate that the prognosis wasn’t worse for Watson’s injury.
“Talking to him today, we were lucky. We dodged a real bullet there. Because it looked pretty ugly,” LaFleur said Wednesday. “He’s certainly in good spirits and will do everything he can to get back as soon as possible.”
On Monday, LaFleur said Watson would be sidelined “about a week,” and his avoidance of injured reserve suggests the team believes he will be back within four weeks.
Watson got his left foot stuck under a defender while falling backwards after a pass was thrown his way in the first half against the Vikings. He left the field on his own but was eventually taken back to the locker room for evaluation.
Watson did not practice Wednesday.
Going on injured reserve would cost Watson games against the Los Angeles Rams, Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars. Instead, he will likely miss Sunday in Los Angeles and then be eligible to play every day.
Dontayvion Wicks, who dropped two passes last week but also scored two touchdowns in a good-to-good performance, can be expected to take over most of Watson’s snaps in his absence.
Watson has five catches on eight targets for 80 yards and a touchdown in four games in 2024. In Week 4, he was on the field for 46 percent of the Packers’ offensive snaps.
The Packers are still gathering information on Devonte Wyatt’s ankle injury, but are hopeful he can avoid injury to the backup. Wyatt did not practice Wednesday.
