Matthew Golden

Green Bay Packers·#0

Pos WRHt 5'11"Wt 191 lbExp 1 yrCollege Texas

Updated September 21, 2026

WR rankings →

Model Score

70.7 MODEL

Resting on limited playing time

How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →

Season Stats · 1 games

Rec

Rec Yds

Rec TD

Targets

95.0

Yds/Gm

15.5

Fantasy PPG

Advanced Metrics EPA & Next Gen Stats

1.069

EPA / target

2.5 yd

Avg separation

6.5 yd

Avg cushion

1.1

YAC over exp

50.0%

Catch %

Draft & College

Round 1, pick 23 · Green Bay Packers · 2025

Texas (SEC)

Taken

#23

where he actually went

Consensus board

20th

average of the public big boards that spring

Our college model

#103

among WR in our college data

He went about where consensus had him.

In college · 2022-2024 · 36 games

125 rec, 1,858 yds, 14 TD, 14.9 yds/rec

Covers the college seasons in our data, which does not always reach back to a player's first year.

Coming out

4.29s

40 yd

Comps

College career

his college career vs theirs

Jacolby George86%Jalen Moss86%Jesse Kroll85%

STM Take

The 2025 #69 (tier 8) rookie finish is well below where a 1st-round pick is supposed to land, and the underlying game log (six of eight weeks under 4 PPR) confirms the role was thin all year. Wk 19's 18.4 PPR is the lone fantasy-relevant moment of his season. The 2026 jump depends entirely on whether Green Bay's crowded WR room (Reed, Doubs, Watson, Golden) opens up via injury or contract turnover.

Golden came out of Texas (after transferring from Houston) as Green Bay's 1st-round pick (23rd overall) in 2025 after a 987-yard senior season. He ran a 4.29 forty at the combine, the fastest WR time of his class, which moved his stock up to the 1st round despite the modest college production line. Green Bay drafted him as the long-term complement to Jayden Reed and Romeo Doubs, with Christian Watson's chronic durability issues adding urgency to the WR investment.

Strengths

4.29 combine forty is genuinely elite straight-line speed, the trait that justified the 1st-round selection. Wk 19 2025's 18.4 PPR shows the explosive ceiling when the offense schemes him a target.
Texas senior 987-yard line and the 1st-round pedigree (23rd overall) confirm the NFL projection grade. Age 23 leaves multiple development years.

Concerns

Six of his last eight 2025 weeks scored under 4 PPR (1.8, 2.2, 0.4, 0, 3.4, 2.9). That is depth-chart-pure rookie production, not 1st-round value.
Behind Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, and Christian Watson, the path to a defined WR2 role is narrow. Green Bay's offensive identity historically distributes targets evenly across the room.

What to watch: Whether his 2026 target share clears 6 per game across the first six weeks, the threshold every successful 1st-round WR has historically needed to hit in Year 2.