The Green Bay Packers have been seeking a top-flight wide receiver ever since they traded Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders prior to the 2022 NFL season. They think they may have found one in Matthew Golden.
Green Bay has not had a 1,000-yard receiver since 2021, when Adams set career and franchise highs with 1,553 yards on 123 catches. Allen Lazard led the team the following year with 788 yards and Jayden Reed topped the club each of the last two seasons with 793 and 857 yards, respectively.
In an attempt to provide quarterback Jordan Love with a bonafide No. 1 weapon, the Packers did something in April that they hadn’t done in more than 20 years – select a wide receiver in the first round of the NFL draft. By taking Golden with the 23rd overall pick, Green Bay drafted a wideout in the opening round for the first time since selecting Javon Walker 20th overall in 2002.
However, Golden failed to record 1,000 receiving yards in a season during his collegiate career. He made 38 catches for 584 yards with the Houston Cougars in 2022 and hauled in the same amount of passes for 404 yards the following year before transferring to Texas, where he gained 987 yards on 58 receptions for the Longhorns last campaign.
That is one of the reasons SportsLine prop betting expert Alex Selesnick has made Golden Under 700.5 receiving yards, which currently is priced at -110 at DraftKings Sportsbook, as his No. 1 wide receiver player prop pick for the 2025 season. Selesnick enters the campaign with a 524-418 record on his NFL picks.
“He struggled against man coverage in college, and that typically leads to a steep learning curve in the NFL,” Selesnick told SportsLine.
Getting the 22-year-old Golden the football often enough in order for him to gain a large amount of yards in his rookie season could prove difficult. After finishing eighth in completions (372) and seventh in passing yards (4,159) in his first year as Green Bay’s starting QB in 2023, Love was 20th (268) and 19th (3,389), respectively, last year. He did miss two games, but he still wouldn’t have eclipsed the previous year’s numbers had he played.
The Packers still have the wideout trio of Reed, Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks, and they also added Mecole Hardman to the receiving corps via free agency. Reed made at least 55 catches during each of Love’s two seasons as Green Bay’s starter, Doubs hauled in more than 45 passes both years and Wicks has finished with 39 receptions in back-to-back campaigns.
In addition, the Packers were tied for fifth in the NFL last year with 526 rushing attempts. Josh Jacobs ranked sixth with 301 of those carries and posted the fourth 1,000-yard season of his career with 1,329, which also was sixth in the league.
“Golden is joining a run-first offense with lots of competition for targets,” Selesnick said.
Even if Green Bay puts more of an emphasis on the passing game in 2025 and Love returns to his form from two seasons ago, it will be difficult for him to get Golden the amount of receptions he’d likely need to rack up more than 700 yards. And since he’s a rookie that is part of a group of wideouts that features a pair of 25-year olds (Reed, Doubs) and a 24-year old (Wicks), Selesnick likes Golden to go Under 700.5 receiving yards in 2025.