Matthew Golden

Well, Golden got the draft capital alley-oop as the Packers bucked their previous trend and sent the card to the podium in the first round of the NFL Draft. I'll lead this off by saying I was lower than consensus regarding Golden. With the selection of Golden and then the team following that up by selecting Savion Williams (round 3) later in the NFL Draft, I don't think Golden will be the team's "true WR1." Those correlated moves speak more to Green Bay continuing their wide receiver-by-committee approach. Even if they don't and the team seeks to run more of the offense through Golden, I don't know if he has the high-end target-drawing ability to reward their faith. Golden finished his collegiate career with an 18.7% target per route run rate and 1.85 yards per route run (per PFF). Neither of those metrics screams "future alpha WR1" in the NFL. Despite my pessimism, Golden's draft capital alone necessitates that he is worth a late-round selection in redraft this season.

Packers rookie WR Matthew Golden took reps as punt returner at OTAs on Tuesday.

Fantasy Impact

Golden did not run back any punts during his three years in college. He did run back a handful of kickoffs. Mecole Hardman and Jayden Reed were also practicing running back kickoffs.