Packers Discussion: Was Matthew Golden the right pick in 2025?

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about asking Green Bay Packers fans: Would you redo the Matthew Golden pick if you had the chance? Generally, I think Packers fans are disappointed in Golden’s production, but not necessarily the player. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’d like to hear you guys out on this one.

If you need a refresher, Green Bay took the former Texas receiver with the 23rd overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, to much fanfare. General manager Brian Gutekunst called Golden’s year “excellent” in his end-of-the-year press conference. Pro Football Focus, which is by no means the end-all, be-all of football conversations, had Golden with a season-long grade of 70.5. In the season-long box score, Golden caught 29 passes for 361 yards to go along with 10 carries and 49 yards on the ground. He recorded his first NFL touchdown in the Packers’ playoff loss to the Chicago Bears, when he made four catches for 84 yards.

Despite not being a full-time player, Golden played 53 percent of the offensive snaps for the 14 games he was available for (he missed three games due to injury as a rookie). The only player from the 13th pick to the 30th pick in last year’s draft who had both a higher PFF grade than Golden and played more snaps than him was Atlanta’s Jalon Walker, who was ranked 9th on the consensus draft board but had a shocking drop to the 15th slot.

We often accept that the hit rate for first-round picks and second-round picks drops off severely, but I think one thing that gets lost in the hype building around the draft is that the second round really starts to creep in somewhere after the top-10 and the mid-teens in a typical draft class. One of my favorite examples of this is the 2022 draft, when the first 14 picks were incredibly strong, and then immediately after that, the talent sort of fell off a cliff.

For some added perspective on what the consensus draft board looked like at the time of Golden’s selection, the only players ranked higher than him that were still available when the Packers got on the clock were quarterback Shedeur Sanders, ranked 12th but went 144th, and edge rusher Mike Green, ranked 17th but went 59th in part due to two sexual assault allegations.

So, is it the actual player or his usage? Maybe there are some Jihaad Campbell truthers out there, but I’m willing to listen to who people wanted as an alternative.