GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Whenever Christian Watson returns from surgery on his torn ACL, the Green Bay Packers receiver won't have to worry about playing for his future.
Watson agreed to a one-year, $13.25 million contract extension with the Packers, his agent, Adisa Bakari, told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Tuesday. The 26-year-old, a second-round draft pick in 2022, had been in the final year of his rookie contract and would have been a free agent next offseason.
The deep-threat receiver suffered the right knee injury in last year's regular-season finale against the Chicago Bears. He remains on the PUP list, which means he will miss at least the first four games of this season.
The Packers typically hold out players recovering from ACL surgery for at least 10 months, but coach Matt LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst have raved about Watson's recovery at various points in the offseason.
"When you see him run ... like you want to throw him out there, right?" Gutekunst said midway through training camp last month. "But there's kind of a timeline with these ACLs, and we're certainly, he's ahead of the curve. There's no doubt about it, but at the same time he's got a long career in front of him, so we want to make sure we take the proper steps and we don't skip any steps along the way.
"After that fourth game I'm sure he's going to be chomping at the bit, and it's going take a lot of us to hold him back."
Watson, who has battled various injuries during his time in the NFL, has played in 38 games over three seasons and has 98 catches for 1,653 yards and 14 touchdowns. His 16.9-yard average per catch ranks third in the league among all players with at least 75 receptions since the start of the 2022 season.
