Matthew Golden is a potential bust and avoid in 2025 fantasy football rookie drafts. Read the fantasy football outlook for the new Packers wide receiver.
DRAFT PICK: 1st Round (#23 Overall Pick)
TEAM: Green Bay Packers
ROOKIE DRAFT ANALYSIS: The situation Golden is in is not ideal. There's an absolute mess of WRs on the Packers that don't tend to stand out from one another, and Packers head coach Matt LaFleur loves to spread the ball around as much as possible. He's indicated as much in past offseasons, though he was wrongfully ignored by the fantasy community.
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Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson (knee) when he returns, Josh Jacobs, Tucker Kraft, Dontayvion Wicks, Savion Williams, and Jayden Reed will all be competing for targets on what was one of the most run-heavy offenses in the league last season. That's pretty hideous stuff.
I also have major issues with Golden's profile. He just doesn't seem to have even a decent release package. Upon reviewing his film, I noticed an effective game plan that attempted to move him away from 1-on-1 coverage and into open space. He was also an inefficient receiver.
He wasn't great at earning targets in college, either. He didn't have a great overall season, and really only started to "break out" after Isaiah Bond's injury hampered his play. From my analysis and research, he's just not a great prospect.
#gopackgo pic.twitter.com/pBoNkRMSvA
— Matthew Golden (@MatthewGolden_) May 24, 2025
His draft capital got massively boosted by the injury to Bond and the 40-yard dash performance. There's a huge laundry list of players with poor college efficiency (YPRR, TPRR, etc.) who excelled in the NFL, even after running blazingly fast 40-yard dashes. So I'm completely out on Golden.
- John Johnson
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