Losing Christian Watson to a torn ACL at the end of the 2024 NFL season hurt the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs, and it will continue to affect them deep into 2025. Green Bay’s offense is losing Watson’s explosive playmaking and field-stretching ability.

There isn’t an obvious player on the roster or in free agency who can replicate exactly what Watson offers Greens Bay’s offense. There’s also skepticism that the Packers can address these needs in the draft with a weak wide receiver class. But there is potential that these elements can be replicated by committee with players already on the roster, some of whom you may have forgotten about.

Signing Mecole Hardman gives Green Bay’s offense speed, which they needed. Hardman has never truly been a vertical field stretcher in the way Watson has, with a long of just 37 yards over the last three seasons and only 18 receptions of 20-plus yards in his career. However, he opens up the possibility of using Jayden Reed in a more traditional way.

One of the many frustrations with Green Bay’s offense last season was how often it felt that they weren’t using Jayden Reed enough. He only played 63% of snaps, and 73% of those were in the slot. He’d often be in motion before the snap and end up as a checkdown in the flat.

After a blistering start to the season where Reed was an explosive playmaker with the ball in his hands and downfield, his role seemingly got reduced to a souped-up gadget guy. Adding Hardman allows LaFleur to use him as the gadget/motion man and Reed more as a traditional receiver.

I’d also like to see the Packers use Reed more as an outside receiver. According to PFF, Reed played 291 and 345 snaps on the boundary in his final two college seasons, respectively. In his first two seasons in Green Bay, he’s played just 332 combined. Giving Reed a shot on the outside not only gets the Packers’ best and most explosive receiver on the field more, but if he can play on the boundary, it could also provide the field-stretching element you lose in Watson.

The next two options are essentially free draft picks and free-agency additions. Luke Musgrave and Marshawn Lloyd are explosive playmakers coming out of the draft, and both had seasons ruined by injury this past year.

Let’s start with Musgrave, who has had a frustrating start to his career in Green Bay. He’s occasionally shown flashes as a vertical seam stretcher. But most of the time he’s struggled to stay on the field or on his feet.

Though Musgrave hasn’t stayed healthy in college or the NFL, I don’t want to label him as injury-prone. After only playing two games in his senior season of college, he was on track to have a solid rookie season before he had a freak lacerated kidney. Then, he hurt his ankle last year. These are injuries that could happen to anyone in a contact sport. And he attempted to play through both injuries. The kid is as tough as nails.

Suppose Green Bay can keep Musgrave on the field and teach him to run less like a baby deer and more like a gazelle. Then, he can provide a field-stretching and explosive element to the middle of this offense that they haven’t had for the most part since the start of his rookie season.

With Lloyd, we’ve basically seen nothing. He popped his hamstring in the preseason, missed Week 1, returned in Week 2, had seven touches for 18 yards, including one fun run that got called back, and then got rolled up in a pile. He missed several weeks with an ankle injury, and right before he was about to return, he got appendicitis. Then, he again re-injured his hamstring and missed the rest of the season.

If Lloyd can beat the injury bug, he should be a big part of the offense. In his first and only game, he got eight touches in his 10 snaps. Going into last season, Lloyd felt like the perfect complement to Josh Jacobs as an explosive home run hitting back. In his senior college season, he averaged 8.2 yards per touch and 0.41 missed tackles per attempt, which led the nation in 2023. The really fun part is he averaged 17.8 yards per reception. Lloyd can add an explosive element both in the run and pass game.

The loss of Watson will sting, and if Green Bay cannot make a significant addition in the draft, it will take multiple players to step up and replicate what he gave the offense. However, with an expansion of Jayden Reed’s role and the additions of Luke Musgrave and Marshawn Lloyd back into the offense, with a bit of health luck, they may have the horses to do it from within.