GREEN BAY, Wis. — If it wasn’t clear earlier than the Inexperienced Bay Packers traded receiver Dontayvion Wicks to the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday, then it needs to be now: They’re clearing the way in which for Matthew Golden to maneuver up the depth chart.
This after they beforehand let Romeo Doubs go away in free company to signal with the New England Patriots.
Regardless of a rookie season by which the Packers by no means appeared to make Golden a focus of the offense, they got here away feeling the 2025 first-round choose was prepared for extra — greater than the 29 catches for 361 yards he accounted for after basic supervisor Brian Gutekunst chosen Golden twenty third general, breaking the Packers’ two-decade-plus custom of not drafting a receiver in Spherical 1.
It wasn’t till the 31-27 wild-card playoff loss to the Chicago Bears that Golden caught his first NFL landing cross as a part of a four-catch, 84-yard recreation.
That efficiency was equal components encouraging for the long run and vexing that there weren’t extra prefer it throughout the season.
“With all of the alternatives we gave him, I assumed he did a superb job,” Gutekunst mentioned after the season. “I’d have liked to have seen him get extra alternatives by way of the 12 months. It did not work out that manner. However when he did, he carried out, and he carried out at a excessive stage. I am actually excited to see the place he goes in Yr 2.
“I feel his ceiling could be very, very excessive. We’re very, very enthusiastic about what he’ll do for our soccer group shifting ahead.”
Christian Watson will probably stay the Packers’ go-to big-play receiver. His 10-game stretch after getting back from the torn proper ACL he sustained in 2024 was among the many greatest within the NFL final season. In Weeks 8-18, he led the league with a median of 17.5 yards per catch. Of his 35 catches, almost half (17) went for no less than 16 yards.
Watson signed a one-year, $11 million contract extension earlier than he returned from his knee harm and can virtually definitely be in line to obtain one other contract earlier than he hits free company subsequent offseason.
Jayden Reed, the Packers’ main receiver in 2023 and 2024, ought to return to a extra outstanding position after he missed 9 video games due to foot and shoulder accidents. He’s coming into the ultimate 12 months of his rookie contract and certain will probably be a candidate for extension, which is why the Packers could not hold Doubs and determined to commerce Wicks for a fifth-round choose this 12 months and a sixth-round choose in 2027 earlier than he would hit free company subsequent offseason.
With Doubs, Wicks and Savion Williams, the Packers had a crowded receiver room final season when everybody was accessible. Whereas coach Matt LaFleur insisted on the time that was to the Packers’ benefit as a result of it made them tougher to arrange for and tougher to defend, it could have made it harder for quarterback Jordan Like to construct chemistry along with his prime receivers. From 2024 to 2025, the Packers fell from fifth to fifteenth in whole offense from eighth to sixteenth in factors.
Then there have been LaFleur’s current feedback about gamers accepting their roles, saying “I feel there have been some guys that had been upset about roles final 12 months, and I feel that took a toll on our soccer group.” He including that “from a training standpoint, position readability is essential. So we have got to clearly do a greater job speaking with our gamers.”
Whereas LaFleur refused to call names, maybe a extra streamlined receiver room might assist in that regard. For Golden’s half, he by no means complained publicly a few lack of alternatives regardless that he watched rookie receivers on different groups get focused way more usually. It is potential that Golden may need expressed his frustrations behind closed doorways. One supply mentioned whether or not he shared it with coaches or not, Golden did let his frustration be recognized to a number of folks near him.
For his half, Golden might have achieved extra along with his alternatives, too. There was the 34-yard catch in opposition to the Browns in Week 3 that might have been a 96-yard landing had Golden not angled out of bounds when it seemed like he might have turned upfield. He additionally missed three video games and was restricted in just a few others due to shoulder and wrist accidents.
Nonetheless, he ended final season with the type of recreation that many thought would have come sooner, particularly after Golden turned heads day after day in coaching camp final summer season.
“Yeah, I used to be ready on it,” Golden mentioned after the playoff recreation. “All 12 months, clearly. However, man, dropping hurts extra. From coaching camp, all of the work we put in, it is simply gone. And on the identical time, we’re not going to have among the guys in right here subsequent 12 months, and we’re not going to have the identical group.”
Golden’s comparatively gradual begin was not distinctive amongst Packers receivers who went on to turn into prime receivers. Whereas Reed owns the Packers document for receptions by a rookie at 64 set in 2023, the likes of Davante Adams (50), James Jones (47), Greg Jennings (45), Jordy Nelson (33) and Randall Cobb (25) all had various levels of success of their first seasons.
“He received far more than I had — far more juice, far more strikes,” Jones mentioned of Golden throughout a current look on the annual Packers Tailgate Tour. “I’ll have had the flexibility to go get the ball a bit of bit extra, however the dude’s going to be a famous person. We’re speaking about once I was a rookie, yeah, I had 47 catches, I used to be on the market with Brett Favre, however my head was spinning. It is nonetheless spinning. I might keep in mind again to when, I’d come out of video games … with like 15 missed assignments. I am calling the spouse like, do not unpack but, as a result of we gonna fiddle and get reduce. We’re simply right here for a bit of bit. However like, my head was spinning. I used to be making a pair performs.
“However for him, I simply suppose it is all about discovering methods to get him in a groove, and I feel with [Doubs and Wicks] out now, you will see him have an even bigger position, you will see him get some chemistry with Jordan Love. However he received all the things you need in a large receiver.”
Cobb, who additionally was on the Packers Tailgate Tour, believes Golden will take a big soar in Yr 2.
“Sure, he was a first-round choose and, sure, the expectations had been in all probability actually excessive, however I feel his ceiling is absolutely excessive,” Cobb mentioned. “To see him finish the season the way in which that he did in Chicago, I used to be so happy with that second and for him to have the chance. Clearly, want the sport would have turned out otherwise, however I feel that is one thing to construct on, and it is one thing to comprehend that he has the aptitude and he’ll in all probability have extra alternative now with much less guys within the room.”
