Matthew Golden
2025 Season Outlooks
Golden was selected by Green Bay in the first round of April's draft. He impressed at the combine with a 4.29 40-yard dash and 1.49 10-yard split (both best among WRs). He's a bit on the small side and his 1.86 YPRR across 36 collegiate games isn't very good, but he did make a big leap in 2024 (his lone year at Texas), posting a 58-987-9 receiving line. He can work all over the formation and is a plus kick returner. With Christian Watson (ACL) likely to miss a big chunk of the season and Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed as his primary competition for work, Golden has a good chance to operate as Jordan Love's top target in 2025. The speedster should be viewed as a WR3 with obvious upside.
At Texas, he led the wide receiver room in offensive snaps and routes run in the regular season, but multiple wide receivers earned a higher grade than he did. He posted 1.6 yards per route run in the regular season, fifth among Texas‘s top six wide receivers. Then the playoffs hit, and Golden was much more dominant. He caught 19 of 29 passes for 411 yards for 3.37 yards per route run.
Golden’s stock increased even further after he ran the second-fastest 40-yard dash at the combine at 4.29 seconds. However, his PFF's tracking data suggests average speed for a wide receiver. His speeds were notably slower than fellow rookie receivers Tetairoa McMillan, Travis Hunter and Luther Burden III.
Golden was a big red zone target at both Houston and Texas, with a 40% end zone target rate at Houston in 2023 and 31% in 2024 at Texas. Given the Packers' high-scoring, quality offense, there is a chance Golden could score a lot of touchdowns for Green Bay.
2025 Fantasy Football Rankings
Standard
#77
PPR
#80
Half-PPR
#81
Superflex
#106
2025 Fantasy Football Draft Projections
| Rush Yds | Rush TD | Rec | Rec Yds | Rec TD | 64.1 | 896.7 | 5.7 |
|---|
2025 Average Draft Position (ADP)
Standard
#88
Pick 8.04
PPR
#85
Pick 8.01
Half-PPR
#89
Pick 8.05
Superflex
#102
Pick 9.06
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