The Green Bay Packers hadn't used a 1st-round pick on the wide receiver position since 2002 until they took Matthew Golden in the 1st round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Along with the high expectations that inherently come along with being a top draft pick, Golden is also representing the end of a long drought.
And the Packers have cleared the way for him to absolutely take off in the 2026 season.
The team has had outstanding depth at the wide receiver position in recent years, to the point that they did a little pruning in the 2026 offseason. The Packers have cleared the path for Golden to get more opportunities in 2026 by letting Romeo Doubs walk in NFL Free Agency to the Patriots, and trading Dontayvion Wicks to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The expectations are already sky high for Golden entering his second season, and at Packers OTAs, Jayden Reed is fueling the hype train even further.
Green Bay Packers WR Jayden Reed says he is expecting a huge jump from Matthew Golden in 2026
Jayden Reed expects a “huge jump” for Matthew Golden.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) June 2, 2026
“He’s gonna be dangerous for this offense.” pic.twitter.com/AHj82DKKly
"It's gonna be a huge jump for MG, man. You can tell the game is slowing down for him, he's learning the plays much better. You can tell he's just more comfortable out there...You can tell he's gaining that confidence and he's going to be dangerous for this offense."
As much as everybody would have liked to have seen Golden hit the ground running for the Packers in his rookie season, it was a bit of tough sledding and picking spots. But the moments where Golden was able to come through for the team were absolutely brilliant.
He caught 29 passes for 361 yards as a rookie with just one dropped pass on 44 targets.
Not only does Golden give the Packers a sure-handed weapon, but he can play all over the place. We'll likely see him primarily working out of the slot with Christian Watson as the ideal "X" receiver on the outside, but the Packers will have plans for Golden beyond just feeding him from the slot.
Golden can win vertically, he can create separation on short-to-intermediate routes, and he gives the Packers a threat at every level of the field whenever he's out there. He feels like the ideal high volume player and his teammates obviously can see that he's settling in as a second-year player.
Just like Jayden Reed talked about, the game seems to be "slowing down" for Golden. When you're a rookie in the NFL, it's easy to think too much instead of just playing the game. When you aren't thinking as much and you're able to play faster, that's when we start to see guys take those massive jumps forward in their overall game.
Golden has plenty of hype already as a first-round pick, but with the path to more targets cleared and his teammates talking about the game slowing down for him, that hype train is going to be running out of control by the time training camp rolls around.
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