As the Green Bay Packers pulled down the curtains on training camp on Thursday, practice concluded with buzz surrounding an increasingly familiar name: Matthew Golden.
Golden dazzled in one-on-one reps in a joint practice against the Seattle Seahawks and showed out throughout the day. It might have the Packers wondering if the rookie’s emergence could make another wide receiver on the team expendable.
Green Bay is in a slightly weird spot at wide receiver when you look at contract situations. Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson are entering the final year of their rookie deals. Next year, it’ll be Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks in those shoes.
The Packers went out and drafted Golden and Savion Williams early in April’s draft. Golden has been sensational, while Williams has been sidelined for a lot of training camp due to injury. Golden isn’t a sure thing, but given all the chatter coming out of 1265 Lombardi Ave., it’s hard to imagine him not panning out.
Green Bay typically doesn’t jump the gun on praising young guys on the team. They’ve been positively ebullient when talking about Golden. Per general manager Brian Gutekunst:
He’s one of those rookies that has made one or two plays every day, and when you start to see that consistency of that, there’s a lot of history here that those guys make it and are pretty good players in the league. He’s just scratching the surface. He’s still learning quite a bit, but he’s made plays when he’s had opportunities to make plays, and that’s a good sign. Certainly a lot more out there for him, and he’s working hard to get to those next places.
In practice, Golden has been getting plenty of one-on-one reps against Green Bay’s top cornerback in Keisean Nixon, and the rookie has been holding his own. Take it from Nixon himself.
Really strong hands. You can tell why he went first round. Strong at the catch point, strong hands, strong upper body. So, I think he’ll have a really good year.
Nixon went on to call Golden “a hell of a player.”
It’s not a stretch to envision Golden being the best wide receiver on the team by the end of the 2025 season. So, where does that leave everyone else?
Watson isn’t going anywhere. At least not this year. He’s a critical part of Green Bay’s offense and is still recovering and rehabbing from a torn ACL suffered in Week 18 last season. It’s fair to expect Watson to return to the form everyone saw before the injury, but nobody is trading for an unknown due to injury when he has yet to return.
Like Watson, Romeo Doubs faces considerable uncertainty regarding his long-term future in Green Bay. As for 2025? Head coach Matt LaFleur cleared that all up on Thursday when he was asked about rumors swirling online that Doubs could be on the cutting block.
”I’d be very shocked if he ever was going anywhere,” LaFleur told Kay Adams.
When Adams mentioned speculation online about Doubs potentially going to another team, LaFleur jumped in.
No. That will not happen. Rome is out there competing and doing everything that we need to see from him and obviously he’s played a lot of ball for us and at a high level. He’s been a great teammate. He goes out there and you can count on him every day.
There’s a case to be made that upon entering this season, Doubs is the most reliable wide receiver for quarterback Jordan Love. Any trade talk sounded far-fetched from the rip. LaFleur put it all to rest.
That really leaves Reed and Wicks.
Reed is used in numerous ways and serves as the archetype of a LaFleur player in the offense. Drops and inconsistent play plagued Reed in 2024, but trading him before the start of the season would be stunning.
Then there’s Wicks.
Drops were also a huge issue for Wicks in 2024. On top of that, he’s missed a lot of training camp this summer. Releasing Wicks would be wildly surprising, but a trade? A few teams are looking to add a wide receiver, and the Packers simply will not be able to dish out extensions to Watson, Doubs, Reed, and Wicks in the next two years. It just isn’t happening.
If the front office is convinced they have a true gem in Golden, that could make someone like Wicks expendable.
Of course, there are a couple of other players battling for a roster spot at wide receiver, like Mecole Hardman and Malik Heath, but Hardman is a veteran who holds no trade value. He might not even make the final roster for the Packers. Heath is similar in being a fringe roster player, but could possibly fetch a seventh-round pick due to his age and profile.
Green Bay will likely make a couple of difficult cuts at wide receiver. And if they’re truly convinced of Golden’s abilities, those cuts could run deeper.