The Green Bay Packers went through some significant changes in the offense during the offseason. For starters, Nathaniel Hackett will no longer be a part of the team as he left to coach the Denver Broncos.
Moreover, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Davante Adams are on new teams, leaving two big holes in their WR corps. That's why they took three promising rookies in this year's NFL Draft.
Among all those rookies, Christian Watson stands out the most.
He was one of the highest-ranked prospects coming out of North Dakota State University, and he's expected to make an immediate impact as a starter from day one.
People around the team have been quite impressed by him in the offseason, especially regarding his physical traits:
“His combination of size and speed is great. He’s a big guy. He can move. He’s going to be a problem once he figures things out," Packers new OC Adam Stenavich told The Athletic.
Watson has put in the work in OTAs, getting to know Aaron Rodgers and giving the Packers a glimpse of what he's capable of when given enough snaps.
When asked about his development thus far, he claims he's coming along pretty well:
“I think still have a long way to go in terms of being the player that I want to be and playing at the level that I want to play at, but I’m definitely adjusting each and every day, always taking it one day at a time," Watson said.
Even so, we cannot expect him to be Davante Adams immediately. Even Aaron Rodgers knows that the team needs to hit the drawing board, get creative, and change the offense:
“The offense has to change,” Rodgers said. “Last year, when you have a guy who is that talented, it’s probably not an exaggeration to say that 80 percent of the plays in the passing game were designed specifically for 17, so we’re obviously gonna do some things a little different.”
There's always the chance that the Packers will bring in another veteran wideout. They signed Sammy Watkins and already have Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb to fill in the void, but that may not be enough.
Julio Jones, T.Y. Hilton, and even Odell Beckham Jr. all sound like potential fits at Lambeau Field. But they need to know what they have on their hands first.
