2022 Draft #34 Christian Watson

[Pugger]

This guy cost 2 # 2s. MVS was a 5th rounder. Sorry this was not one of Gutes better moments.

This guy is lightyears better than MVS. I suggest you do some YouTube research on this young man. His biggest issue coming in was drops and his competition in college. His floor is MVS and with NFL coaching he might end up being the best WR in this class when it is all said and done.

 

[Pugger]

Watson has elite athleticism beyond just raw speed. Can he play football at an elite level to match his athleticism? That's the question. The Packers drafted either the next star receiver or picked up another Jeff Janis. Fair to say Watson is so raw, he will likely will have a bigger impact returning kicks than catching passes until he learns the nuances of running routes. I don't see him as the type of rookie receiver that makes an immediate impact and goes over 1000 yards like a J. Chase.

I don't think there was a WR in this class that compares to Chase.

 

[sschind]

This was the video that I watched a few weeks ago that swayed me on Watson. I know these vids are usually just hype vids of a players good plays, but the person who put this together went further with it.

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On content it was an excellent video. Lots of good points. Very in depth. Much more informative than the typical highlight reel videos.

The delivery really bad however. It could have been shorter. I almost shut it off after 5 minutes because listening to the guy talk so slow was almost painful.

Glad you posted it though. Its nice to see someone putting in the effort to make such a video and as someone who had never heard of Christian Watson other than maybe a few lists on this site it makes me feel much better about the pick. Not that I felt bad about it just that is was more blind optimism. Now I have at least one person's opinion to back that up.

From what I have heard about Watson I'm very happy with the pick. Having two 2nd round picks would have been nice and although I kind of expected a move up I wasn't really expecting that far so the cost makes sense. I was thinking 5-10 spots to grab the last guy on the list not 19 to get the first guy on the list but this is OK by me.

 

[Pugger]

I hope he has a better head on his shoulders than Moss.

He scored a 38 on the wonderlic test so he is super smart (Aaron Rodgers only scored 33).

 

[Todd Princl]

Packers finally do what they have to in order to finally get a pretty good WR, with a high ceiling and people are complaining?

Was hoping to find some positivity in a thread about the first WR drafted by the Packers in the first 2 rounds since 2014.

It seems to be the world we live in. The conversations that take place behind the scenes. I loved Burks hog hunting stories, but you can’t take a knife to a football field. Watson seems like he will take all the beating that Aaron throws at him. Who know’s maybe he will be Aaron’s pet project to make us all forget about Davante.
Those are the things that you can work with. A good attitude, clean health, no checkered past, and overall athletic ability. But people have their opinions.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

This is what Watson's former teammate and new starting QB for the 49'ers said about Watson.

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[Todd Princl]

This was the video that I watched a few weeks ago that swayed me on Watson. I know these vids are usually just hype vids of a players good plays, but the person who put this together went further with it.

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That was really put well together. Man is he a long strider. And he can do a back flip!! I saw a couple back shoulder catches in some of these highlights. I like how the narrator explained the bad hands theory. His hands look fine to me.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

On content it was an excellent video. Lots of good points. Very in depth. Much more informative than the typical highlight reel videos.

The delivery really bad however. It could have been shorter. I almost shut it off after 5 minutes because listening to the guy talk so slow was almost painful.

Glad you posted it though. Its nice to see someone putting in the effort to make such a video and as someone who had never heard of Christian Watson other than maybe a few lists on this site it makes me feel much better about the pick. Not that I felt bad about it just that is was more blind optimism. Now I have at least one person's opinion to back that up.

From what I have heard about Watson I'm very happy with the pick. Having two 2nd round picks would have been nice and although I kind of expected a move up I wasn't really expecting that far so the cost makes sense. I was thinking 5-10 spots to grab the last guy on the list not 19 to get the first guy on the list but this is OK by me.

Agreed with the guy being a bit slow about presenting his "case" on why Watson is pretty special. However, I did feel it was a much better "highlight" reel than the traditional ones that show a prospects best plays, while pumping in bad music. As he said, if Watson was wearing a different helmet (Alabama, Georgia, etc.) he would have been a top 10 pick. I think that is over simplifying things, since the opponents those schools play are way better that what Watson has faced. So for me that will be the biggest obstacle for Watson, going from playing against not very elite talent, to facing the best. If he can do it, this kid will be special.

 

[tynimiller]

I still just don’t know why he didn’t put up more stat production at the FCS level especially with some of the better FCS QBs throwing to him….a oober high RAS WR in Tanner Conner produced more at the FCS level than Watson…just odd is all.

He ceiling is incredibly high and I think with MLF and Rodgers he will easily turn into something special by the end of regular season for us I bet

 

[morango]

Get Nick Cross

Yes to this. I’ve liked Cross through the entire pre draft process. But what if the choice is between Nick Cross and Khalil Shakir?

 

[tynimiller]

Yes to this. I’ve liked Cross through the entire pre draft process. But what if the choice is between Nick Cross and Khalil Shakir?

Head over to the draft thread and not go off topic here.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Watson will wear #9 for the Packers

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[Poppa San]

I still just don’t know why he didn’t put up more stat production at the FCS level especially with some of the better FCS QBs throwing to him….a oober high RAS WR in Tanner Conner produced more at the FCS level than Watson…just odd is all.

He ceiling is incredibly high and I think with MLF and Rodgers he will easily turn into something special by the end of regular season for us I bet

Seems to me his stats are not as high due to being on a run first team. Passing was used to loosen up the defense before going back to the ground and pound.

 

[Dantés]

The Good:

-Christian Watson is not just fast, he's explosively fast. Meaning that he has both acceleration and speed. MVS, who many people have comp'd Watson to, had a 1.55 ten yard split at the combine, which is very good. Watson had a 1.46, which is 97th% regardless of size, and he's 6'4" 208. So yes, he's fast, but we aren't talking about the traditional long-striding build up speed kind of guy. This is real "get on top of you" speed.

-Watson comes from an offense that does not play finesse players, period. I've seen more of the NDSU Bison crushing other teams than I care to and their identity is in running the ball and physically imposing their will. LaFleur doesn't want guys in this offense who won't block. Watson is going to be more than comfortable with that.

-At the Senior Bowl, Watson demonstrated a lot more ability as a route runner and press coverage beater than he was ever asked to demonstrate for the Bison. NDSU had him on a linear route tree against guys who just couldn't hang with him. He demonstrated that there's more to him than that.

The Bad:

-Watson is 23 years old. So he didn't just play against a lower level of opponent, he did it as an older guy, though to be fair he started really dominating at that level in his age 20 season.

-Watson had one of the highest drop rates in college football. Part of that might just be low sample size. NDSU is a low volume passing attack (Watson led the team with 43 catches and the next highest total on the team was 20). Furthermore, his depth of target was crazy high, so that's going to lead to more drops. But it's still higher than you want to see.

-The competition that Watson faced at the Sr. Bowl, while certainly better than they standard fare in the FCS, was not amazing. And we have seen guys look great in that context and then turn back into a pumpkin (Denzel Mims).

Conclusion:

Watson was not at the top of my list, but the tools were undeniable throughout the process. And I did not anticipate how quickly the vertical threats at WR would come off the board. I thought Pierce would be there for them if they stayed put, or Thornton later on. Thornton went #50 and the Colts took Pierce at #53. Pickens was off the board at #52, and one could easily imagine the Colts jumping Green Bay to pick Pierce earlier had the Packers stayed home. So given how it unfolded, I understand why the Packers wanted this particular player and why they moved up so aggressively to get him.

I think his floor is the MVS role in the offense, meaning a 35-40 reception vertical threat who keeps defenses from condensing towards the LOS. His ceiling is a lot higher than that; we will see what the coaching staff can do with him.

 

[Dantés]

Take this with a grain of salt, because Simms is often really bold in his draft takes and sometimes you wonder if he's just trying to generate more clicks, but he had Watson as his WR2 overall.

Chris Simms’ 2022 NFL Draft WR Rankings: Jameson Williams takes no. 1

The 2022 NFL Draft takes place on April 28-April 30 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Find out Chris Simms' highly anticipated 2022 NFL Draft WR Rankings.

sports.nbcsports.com

 

[Packerbacker1996]

So what you are saying is what we got here is either MvS or Randy Moss and only time will tell.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Seems to me his stats are not as high due to being on a run first team. Passing was used to loosen up the defense before going back to the ground and pound.

Very true. NDSU averaged only about 17 passes per game and Watson only played in 12 games in 2021.

 

[Mondio]

I think his floor is the MVS role in the offense, meaning a 35-40 reception vertical threat who keeps defenses from condensing towards the LOS. His ceiling is a lot higher than that; we will see what the coaching staff can do with him.

That was my thought initially, right off the bat, he steps into the MVS role and steps right in. I think he goes up from there.

 

[DarkHelmet]

I like this draft so far. Was disappointed no WR in round 1, but it just wasn't going to happen after the run on WRs began. So we got what ought to be two big contributors on D plus a guy who might conceivably compete for WR1 this year.

Now for some depth on O-line?

 

[Magooch]

I don't think there was a WR in this class that compares to Chase.

I think I might've said it elsewhere...
Not sure how much stock to put into it, but NFL "Next Gen Stats" assigns prospects a draft score that's a product of their 'production score' and 'athleticism score'.

A score of 50-60 is considered below average, 60-75 is average, 75-90 is good, and 90-100 is 'elite'. Watson received a total score of 75, in large part due to his 69 'production' score.

BUT, his 'athleticism' score was a 99/100. That was higher than any WR in the draft - no other WR scored higher than 90 - and the only WR who scored a 99 athleticism last year was indeed....JaMarr Chase.

Obviously that's not to say Watson will become Chase or anything like that but at least on the basis of athleticism alone he's got a lot of promise.

 

[tynimiller]

Everyone knows if Watson doesn’t succeed it isn’t going to be for lack of athleticism, it will purely be drop issues or route tree maturation doesn’t occur.

The non coachables he oozes with

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Everyone knows if Watson doesn’t succeed it isn’t going to be for lack of athleticism, it will purely be drop issues or route tree maturation doesn’t occur.

The non coachables he oozes with

No, if he doesn't succeed, it is because "Gute sucks and Aaron Rodgers is a bad QB"

 

[tynimiller]

No, if he doesn't succeed, it is because "Gute sucks and Aaron Rodgers is a bad QB"

Sir just cuz Kidcudi is gone doesn’t mean we are taking applications to replace him lol

 

[Albert Park]

An inspiring video if as stated a bit long winded. His pace looks phenomenal and the way he seems to find the routes is good as well. It’s a big step up for him but hopefully he’s a rough diamond that can be polished with some good coaching. Looking forward to next season.

 

[Sunshinepacker]

Excited to see what happens with this guy. Has some of the most elite physical traits in this draft and much will come down to how hard this guy works in the offseason and how much MLF can cater the offense to a rookie but he has the potential to put up better numbers than MVS did in 2020; a great rookie season from Watson would probably involve a lot of go routes and, let's say, 40 catches for 600+ yards. I'm not expecting much short/intermediate stuff from him right now as he learns how to run professional routes but his size, speed, and demonstrated ability to catch the long bomb will be instantly valuable to the offense. Just having him on the field will ensure a safety stays deep on his side of the field.

While I'm still down on the Walker pick on round one (signing a good free agent ILB is cheaper than drafting one in the first round) the aggressiveness of Gute in getting a receiver is a welcome surprise. Hopefully Watson can make me forget about the Packers passing on Tee Higgins.