The Green Bay Packers snapped a 23-year run without a wide receiver in the first round when they selected Matthew Golden out of Texas at No. 23 overall in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft.
What did the Packers like in Golden? Think speed, hands, versatility and personality. Golden has elite speed, terrific hands and the versatility to play multiple spots and contribute on special teams, and the Packers are confident he loves football and will be a great teammate.
“He’s fast. Really athletic. Excellent hands. And I just think he’s a Packer. He’s the kind of guy we want in our locker room, he’s going to fit in with our guys,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said.
Here’s a sampling of what Gutekunst said on Thursday night after picking the Texas receiver:
Speed
Golden ran the 40-yard dash in 4.29 seconds at the NFL Scouting Combine, creating the fastest time by a receiver at the event. He also produced an elite 1.47-second 10-yard split. The Packers have gravitated towards fast prospects in Round 1 and Golden certainly checks the speed box.
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“He has elite speed. His ability to stretch the field outside the numbers is really, really important,” Gutekunst said.
The Packers think Golden has the ability to “get open fast” and stress teams wanting to play aggressive man coverage.
“He’s going to be a speed threat right away,” Gutekunst said.
The Packers will be missing the dynamic speed element from Christian Watson to start the 2025 season, but Golden has the instant acceleration and elite long speed to run the important vertical routes in Matt LaFleur’s offense.
Hands
The Packers love the speed, but Gutekunst was especially complimentary of Golden’s ability to secure the football at the catch point. According to PFF, Golden dropped only four passes and made 11 contested catches for Texas last season.
“We thought arguably he had some of the best hands in the draft. Not only coming back to it, running through it, but when he tracked it over his shoulder too,” Gutekunst said.
Packers receivers had issues consistently catching the football during the 2024 season. Golden should provide instant reliability in that area.
“He catches the ball extremely well. That’s the thing that jumps out not only on tape but when you see him play live,” Gutekunst said.
Golden was especially good at making contested catches in the red zone. While a speedy deep threat, Golden finished with 22 career touchdown catches, including several tough catches in tight spots inside the 10-yard line. His contested catch success rate was over 60 percent, per PFF, a strong number for a receiver his size. Most importantly, Golden is a natural “hands” catcher and rarely lets the ball get into his body.
“He has such good hands, and for me, that was a big part of it too,” Gutekunst said.
Versatility
The Packers believe Golden can play every spot at receiver, including on the perimeter and in the slot. He isn’t a big receiver at 5-11 and 191 pounds, but he plays bigger than his size and has speed as an elite trait.
“Really versatile, he’s going to do a lot of things,” Gutekunst said. “He’s going to be versatile enough to do everything we ask him to do.”
LaFleur wants his receivers to have the versatility to play every spot on the field. Golden has the speed to play the “X” and the stop-start acceleration to thrive in the slot, while also giving LaFleur another dangerous pre-snap motion option. Texas often found ways of getting Golden moving pre-snap to maximize his speed at the snap, which perfectly fits how the Packers operate in the passing game under LaFleur.
The Packers are also excited about Golden’s ability to impact special teams. He returned a pair of kickoffs for touchdowns during the 2023 season with Houston and ended his collegiate career with 28 returns for 722 yards. Gutekunst believes Golden could help the Packers right away as a returner in 2025.
“Dynamic (returner). I think our special teams staff is pretty fired up too,” Gutekunst said. “I think kickoffs will be an easy transition for him, and I think he can do some punts as well. When you take a guy in the first round, that’s not the first thing I’m thinking about, but I do think he can help us there.”
Personality
Gutekunst said Golden is “wired exactly how we want our guys in the locker room.”
The Packers met with Golden at the combine, met him again at the Texas pro day and then hosted him for a pre-draft visit, helping complete the evaluation profile of a third-year junior and late breakout player who transferred from Houston to Texas in 2024.
“Authentic and genuine,” Gutekunst said. “This guy has been through some things now in his young life, came out the other side of it. He knows who he is. He loves football. And I think he’s going to be a great teammate around here.”
Gutekunst said Golden “wants to be great” and “wants to win.”
“Every time we had an opportunity to be around him, whether it was on his campus, the combine, we brought him in here, he just checked the boxes,” Gutekunst said. “Felt like he was going to be a really good fit.”
