He will be way more comfortable and familiar with the offense in 2026. MLF will call more plays to feature him. He will leave scorch marks on opposing D’s. The world gonna spin right!

With Golden and Watson on the field, defenses are going to play a ton of two high safeties. Kraft and Reed will make their living over the middle. Jacobs will have more running room.

But the BIGGEST factor/question mark is the O-line. Morgan’s gotta pan out. Tom’s gotta regain health. Not unrealistic to expect Belton to improve in year two. Rhyan and Banks must avoid sucking. Time will tell.

Agree---everything; receiver, QB, RB success is dependent on the O-Line.

it's time for Golden to become an integral piece of the Packers offense and it's time for the coaching to enable that to happen. He was under utilized during the 2025 season. Give him a chance and ket him make plays. Thanks, Since '61

Yes we do need more from him in year 2. I believe barring injury he will have a much better year. Last year was his first and he was learning but also it was a numbers game. There were 4 veteran WRs ahead of him. Usually the most WRs you have on the field is 3. So yes he would not be used very much. Currently there are 3 and maybe at the beginning of the season there might be 2 ahead of him. So yes he should get more snaps which should mean more receptions and yards.

I wonder if Golden's blocking had anything to do with his declining usage as the season progressed. Early in the season (when Watson and Reed were hurt) I thought Golden displayed very reliable hands and speed to get open. When Watson and Reed returned, Golden almost disappeared. LaFleur is well known for his "no block, no rock" mantra with wide receivers and Watson and Reed are better blockers than Golden. It may be that Golden's blocking will have to improve for him to get on the field more.

It's going to be really interesting to see if there is any fire behind the smoke of the trade rumors involving Wicks and Reed. Wicks snaps can easily be replaced by Williams, Shepard, and Neyor. He is the most likely to be traded and having someone with better hands will make Love happy.

GB has a guy in Golden who could replace Reed and as good as Reed has been, I think Golden is better, faster and better hands. A lot of our WRs could benefit from taking snaps at Slot, having Reed really limits others because Reed needs to be there.

I will throw this out there because I am a Skyy Moore promoter. Moore is perfect size for a slot, and he is very shifty too, which also makes him an above average KR. If he is as good of a blocker as has been told, he could very easily get on the field and see some throws come his way. His hands were one of his biggest strengths in college and I see him potentially being more valuable than just being a great KR.

It would be unfathomable to see Doubs, Wicks, and more so Reed leave in the same year. I think Wicks and maybe Musgrave get traded, and we keep Reed and he blocks Golden from being special in 2026. It's almost a nice problem to have. I would love it if in 2027 people are saying we have too many good O-lineman and CBs on this team. That would make us a real contender. Get some more picks Gutey.

To me, it's sort of a chicken or the egg conundrum. Does he need to step up or does the team just need to make better use of him? Probably a little bit of both. There was definitely some conjecture that Golden wasn't running the right routes or running the routes quite the right way within the play structure. I remember watching a Jordan Love breakdown video by Kurt Warner and he made the comment on one play, "I don't know what the heck Golden is doing here." So, I would err towards the side of Golden needing to step up, but it really seems like the staff could have put him in better position to make an impact more often. Hopefully, both happen in 2026 and we have some serious magic on offense.

I’m not too worried about Golden . I think the Bears playoff game speaks for itself . He could become the Packers best receiver this season . Just throw him the damn ball .

You could write a very similar article about 10+ guys on this roster for this season.

It's not a good time for minor chords, at least in my world, but Gil's lede jogged this memory;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJGb4AgU-Yg

GPG

The question for me is more whether we figure out how to use him optimally. Assuming the offense doesn’t change dramatically, he seems a poor fit to take over what Doubs was doing. Someone has to do that dirty work, but if indeed is not Golden or he is just physically overmatched doing it, then we are wasting talent.

He’s not Watson either. He has speed but he’s not a big target and taking Watson off the field seems nonsensical anyway in deep threat terms but also for blocking, stop route options and so on. So is he our slot? That was the position perhaps his best play came from (playoffs last year). If so, what of Reed? Reed, essentially the same size as Golden, has struggled away from the slot consistently.

Last year Golden’s usage was head scratching mostly. He was treated as a sort of talented spare wheel. Until that changes I don’t think we are going to get the return on him his talent suggests he can bring. One has to put talent in a position to succeed.

"While head coach Matt LaFleur often schemed up plays for fellow rookie Savion Williams, he rarely seemed to design plays to specifically get the ball in Golden’s hands."

There is no way in hell that Savion Williams should be getting more touches and be more involved in the offense than Golden. It was a real head scratcher using a 3rd on him, especially after drafting Golden in the 1st. They had more pressing needs than an over drafted gadget player. I thought it was a wasted pick when it happened. and still do...maybe even more so.

Golden needs to get his hands on the ball way more often and let him show what he can do. It took forever for LaFleur to realize what he had in Kraft. Hopefully, he doesn't make the same mistake with Golden.

Yes, it was eye-opening when GB took a WR in the first round, but with the questions about him, his head-scratching usage, and his not fitting a role, it begs the question: Why was he drafted in the first place? What was the concrete reason for him? Why do we have to wait so long for them to grow into what they seem to never achieve? They're first-round selections. Too many of the first-round selections for GB seem to fall into two categories: Those who don't succeed, and those who get undeserved second contracts/extensions based on being backed into a corner that seems willingly/knowingly self-induced.

This would be a novelty for GB, even historic, drafting someone for the scrimmage line that actually moves the team forward now, not 3-4 years later when the other parts are evaporating or are playing out of position, known as the square peg-round hole conundrum.

This applies to first-round selections; however, since that is moot for the next two years, the FO has fixed the problem by eliminating it altogether. Perhaps some good will come of it, unless the many here believe whatever Parsons hopefully brings covers the problem, but he won't.

There was a line spoken by Sam Elliot in the Landman series, "I wasted my whole life on hope." So are the Packers when it comes to drafting 1st-round players for a long time now. Even moving back in the first round for Love was based on hope, and 7 years later, we're still hoping for whatever it is that it was supposed to be. When many started calling to keep Willis and trade Love, it started to prove that hope failed us again so far.

I will agree 100% with everything you said T E, except for your opinion on Parsons. A lot of NFL teams would have made that deal and even given more than GB did. Game wreckers like Parsons don't come available very often. He is one of those rare ones like Myles Garrett that makes average players around him that much better. The Cowboys are fools for trading him for 2 first round picks that are almost early 2nd rounders. And we threw in a declining Kenny Clark. The only way that trade would have been better is if it had been Gary instead of Clark.

Lets either draft an impact Edge with #52 or sign a FA like Clowney, and see what a real player does opposite Parsons and produces for a season. And see how much better our defense is when we strengthen our CB room in the draft and with another FA CB.

I have lamented about taking a WR @ # 22 in 2025 when all the DTs were gone, along with all the first-round grade WRs. We should have traded back for more picks and then filled the actual chasm we had at CB. We could have gotten a WR later that fit better. Maybe Gutey was playing 3-dimensional chess when he drafted Golden thinking he would trade Reed this year. Then Golden wouldn't be blocked at Slot WR.

I worry that is also GBs thinking @ RB, since they have had multiple guys in on 30 visits. I would not spend #52 on a RB, we have much bigger needs, and all that will do is piss off Jacobs. If Gutey actually trades Reed then he can spend that 2nd or 3rd round pick on a RB like Nic Singleton-Penn State RB who has 4 years of actual great production at a Big 10 powerhouse. Washington has had 1 year of 1000 yards rushing.

Yes our last 6 1st round picks have been underperformers, so losing 1 each in 2026 & 2027 for an actual gamechanger is well worth it. And not to look ahead, but if the money is too much we can trade Parsons in 2028 for a kings ransom of picks and players, and we will have his replacement on the team.

I get the impression Mark Murphy was thrilled to obtain Golden-finally, a early round WR pick. I seem to recall his jubilation.

Generally takes 2 or 3 years for a WR to get comfortable at the NFL level. Which is why I don't like taking them in the 1st.

Matthew Golden needs the Packers to stop impeding his progress. He would've stepped up in year one if allowed. It doesn't take three years for every WR to get used to the Pro game.

In almost every team that has an established QB, that QB has his favorites or the ones he trusts. The 2 new WRs actually had very few drops, Williams had none, which was not his reputation.

Maybe what Strat was thinking was a lot of first round WRs on other teams have success right away, why not ours? Golden or even Williams can't have success if he doesn't get thrown to.

I agree on not taking WR in the first round Bucky, especially last year when we had actual big holes to fill. I also don't think Golden had a first round grade on him, Egbuka was the last. If you want to draft a successful WR, take one from Ohio State or LSU, those schools have dominated in good WRs. Buckeye DBs are very successful too.

The Packers need ML to step WAY UP in 2026...This kid dropped 1 pass all season...and still was not the focal piece of this offense....
AND take the training wheels off Love....I remember the Cowboys playoff game....and have not seen it since....That's on you Matt.

Hope is not a strategy, but I think it’s perfectly reasonable to expect Golden and Belton to improve this year, whereas I do NOT think it’s realistic to see LVN suddenly light it up or for Lloyd to stay healthy.

There is more to being a good WR than catching the ball-they have to run crisp routes, block and understand the playbook.

The thing to remember is Golden feels the same way. He wants to be more involved. Another is MLF likes to run the ball half the time, leaving half of the snaps to be shared among 4-5 receivers and tight ends. One ball, many hands.

While Watson got through last season relatively unhurt, his history shows lots of injuries. I don't know if I would make him my #1 target. Reed is also an an injury waiting to happen. Williams hasn't shown much. Wicks is good but has been hurt. They also have S. Moore and Bo Melton available for snaps. One ball, lots of hands.

Golden needs to show he should be #1.