Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur confirmed that wide receiver Christian Watson will avoid landing on injured reserve after suffering a frightening-looking ankle injury during Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
The Packers feel fortunate the prognosis wasn’t worse on Watson’s injury.
“Just talking to him today, we got lucky. We dodged a real bullet there. Because that looked pretty ugly,” LaFleur said Wednesday. “He’s definitely in good spirits and he’s going to do whatever he can to get back as soon as he can.”
On Monday, LaFleur said Watson will miss “a week or so,” and avoiding injured reserve suggests the team thinks he’ll be back within the four-week window.
Watson had his left foot trapped under a defender while falling backward on a pass thrown his direction in the first half against the Vikings. He left the field under his own power but was eventually carted back to the locker room for evaluation.
Watson didn’t practice Wednesday.
Going on injured reserve would have cost Watson games against the Los Angeles Rams, Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars. Instead, he’ll likely miss Sunday in Los Angeles and then be day to day from there.
Expect Dontayvion Wicks, who dropped two passes but also caught two touchdowns in an up-and-down performance last week, to take on most of Watson’s snaps in his absence.
Watson has five catches on eight targets for 80 yards and a touchdown through four games in 2024. He was on the field for 46 percent of the Packers’ offensive snaps through Week 4.
The Packers are still gathering information on Devonte Wyatt’s ankle injury but are hopeful he will also avoid injured reserve. Wyatt didn’t practice Wednesday.