GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Christian Watson appreciated the faith the Green Bay Packers showed in him even when he believed he didn’t necessarily deserve it.
Now that they’ve given him a contract extension, Watson wants to reward them by staying healthy and producing the best season of his career.
“I try not to look into the number stuff too much,” Watson said Tuesday while speaking to reporters for the first time since signing his four-year extension last week. “I take it week by week. But if I’m really searching and I want to set personal goals, I definitely want to have double-digit touchdowns and I want to have over 1,100 yards.”
Watson, 27, has never accumulated more than 41 catches or 620 yards receiving in any of his four seasons, but he showed last year that he’s capable of doing much more if he can avoid injuries.
After tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament in Green Bay’s 2024 regular-season finale, Watson missed the Packers’ first six contests last year but returned to catch 35 passes for 611 yards and six touchdowns in 10 games.
Now he has a $31 million signing bonus as part of a four-year extension that’s worth up to $110.5 million when incentives are included, though the contract’s base value is about $92 million.
“They gave me countless amounts of chances when it seemed like I shouldn’t have had those chances anymore,” Watson said. “Not to say that I’m paying them back for it or anything – I think we both won on the deal – and I’ve got an opportunity to still earn those dollars, guaranteed or not. I feel like I’m in a good spot.”
Indeed, Watson has gone through plenty of highs and lows since the Packers selected him out of North Dakota State in the second round of the 2022 draft.
He opened his career by getting wide open deep but dropping a potential touchdown catch from Aaron Rodgers. Watson bounced back to score eight touchdowns in a four-game stretch later in his rookie season, but he missed eight games due to hamstring injuries in 2023. Injuries have limited him to a total of 48 games over his first four seasons.
Yet he never doubted the possibility he could earn this type of long-term deal.
“Obviously there was always the down times right in that moment,” Watson said. “You drop a pass or something, or you have a hamstring or something. In that moment, I was definitely feeling sorry for myself a little bit. But I feel like I always did a really good job of bouncing back. I had really good, great people around me who helped me bounce back. I never think I stayed down too long. I think the positive mindset was always there.”
Watson’s extension drew rave reviews from his teammates.
“It’s a testament to the work he puts in, the type of player he is, who he is in this locker room,” quarterback Jordan Love said.
Watson has won the respect of his teammates and coaches for the way he navigated all these challenges, particularly in the work he did to get back into peak form so soon after tearing his ACL.
“He embodies what we want to be about,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “I think he’s a team-first kind of guy. Never once over the course of four years have I ever heard him complain about not getting the ball. He does all the little things the right way.”
Watson’s extension comes during an offseason in which the Packers clarified the pecking order of their receiving room.
Now that Romeo Doubs has signed with New England and Dontayvion Wicks has been traded to Philadelphia, the Packers head into the season with Watson, Jayden Reed and 2025 first-round draft pick Matthew Golden as their clear-cut top three wideouts. Reed agreed to a three-year, $50.25 million extension in April.
“Just to have the foundation of our offense locked in for the next couple of years I think will be huge for us just in terms of finding consistency in our offense,” Watson said. “And just having those go-to guys available for the long-term I think will definitely be big for us in the flow of our offense.”
Watson intends to be a big part of that foundation for years to come
“I’m going to be thankful every single day that I get to step out on that field, to be honest,” Watson said. “For sure, I’m going to go out there every day with the mindset to continue to earn that contract every single day.”
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FILE - Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson looks on during the first half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Jan. 4, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Stacy Bengs, File)
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) and teammate Isaiah Neyor (80) work out during NFL football practice, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson works out during NFL football practice, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States launched airstrikes early Wednesday against Iran after blaming Tehran for the crash of an American attack helicopter, and Iran fired back at countries in the region — another escalation that threatened to derail efforts to end the war.
Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan — all of which host U.S. troops — came under Iranian fire. It was the second time this week that back-and-forth strikes have tested the ceasefire after Iran and Israel targeted each other on Monday, and it again raised the question of how much pressure the deal can take before it cracks.
While U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that negotiations with Iran to end the war are making progress, he has repeatedly vacillated between expressing such optimism and warning that he was ready to return to all-out war. Iran, meanwhile, has proved resilient despite having faced weeks of heavy bombing, betting that its ability to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial passageway for the world’s oil and natural gas — gives it a strong bargaining chip.
Both countries seem to be looking for a way to end the conflict — if they can manage to sell it as a win at home. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears intent on pursuing much more difficult goals: the collapse of Iran’s theocratic government, the elimination of its nuclear program, and the destruction of the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. That will make compromise much harder.
Since the U.S. and Israel started the war with attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, the conflict has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world, and made many basics, including food, more expensive. Brent crude oil, the international standard, was at more than $91 a barrel on Wednesday, up more than 25% since the start of the war.
In the latest strikes, U.S. fighter jets targeted “air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites,” the military’s Central Command said. Iran acknowledged strikes around Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island, but gave no details on the damage.
“The operation was a proportional response to recent attacks on U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters,” Central Command said.
Iran’s top diplomat vowed that there would be a response, and Tehran later claimed attacks in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.
Jordan said it shot down five incoming missiles, which Iran said targeted the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base. The base has hosted American F-35 fighter jets and other aircraft.
Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency carried a military statement saying there were no injuries and that explosives experts examined the debris from the interceptions.
Bahrain and Kuwait said they intercepted incoming fire, without elaborating.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the American attacks as a violation of Iranian sovereignty in calls with his counterparts from Turkey and Saudi Arabia “and emphasized the inherent right of self-defense, including reciprocal action,” according to a post on his office's Telegram channel.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said in televised comments Wednesday that in light of the new attacks, Iran would review its stance on negotiations to end the war.
The exchanges of fire came a day after a U.S. Army attack helicopter crashed near the Strait of Hormuz after colliding with an Iranian drone, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. It wasn’t clear whether the collision was intentional.
A drone boat rescued both of the helicopter’s aviators, and Trump said they were uninjured.
Guards aboard a cargo ship off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden exchanged fire with gunmen in a small boat and repelled their attack, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have said they will resume their attacks against Israel-affiliated ships in the Red Sea. Somali pirates have also become more active in the region.
The UKMTO later reported a fire in the engine room of a tanker in the Gulf of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz, saying one person had been hurt and two others aboard were missing. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the fire.
Before he accused Iran of downing the U.S. helicopter, Trump expressed renewed optimism over negotiations with Iran, but didn’t say why there was reason for hope.
While Trump, wary of high gas prices and upcoming congressional elections in November, seems to be looking for a quick win, he is also making demands that will be tough for Iran to swallow.
The U.S. wants to see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. While Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, that uranium is a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels.
Iran is refusing to give up the uranium and demanding relief from sanctions. It also wants the release of frozen assets even before a final agreement is in place, something rejected by Trump.
It's not clear how those differences can be bridged — and Trump has repeatedly threatened to walk away from the talks. On his Truth Social platform overnight he seemed to be warning again that he was ready to return to all-out war, posting a clip from the American TV series “The West Wing” with actor Martin Sheen as president bellowing: “We don’t come back with a proportional response, we come back with total disaster!”
Meanwhile, Iran has continued to insist that any deal to end the war must also end fighting between its ally Hezbollah and Israel. Instead, Israel has intensified its military campaign against the militant group.
Israel's military said on Wednesday it launched multiple strikes in southern Lebanon over the past day, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
An airstrike on a village east of Tyre killed at least six people, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.
Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Michelle L. Price in New York; and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.
People take shelter as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missiles in Ramat Gan, Israel, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A projectile streaks through the sky over central Israel during an Iranian missile attack, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A cleric checks his cell phone on stage in front of a screen displaying portraits of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, left, late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a pro-government gathering in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A woman walks past a mural depicting a U.S. aircraft carrier under missile attack in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
