For all the successful draft picks made by the Green Bay Packers in recent years, there has been criticism over Brian Gutekunst’s track record in the first round.
The Packers have found good players in round one, but arguably not enough great ones. To some extent that is the price they pay for their success. It is harder to draft stars when picking in the 20's every year. Even the better picks have often taken years to develop into top players.
Whatever the reasons for it, it has been a while since Green Bay has had a first-rounder rise to prominence in the first two years of their career. Matthew Golden has changed all that.
The signs were there on tape during a frustrating rookie season, and to Gutekunst’s credit, he correctly identified which
wide receivers to build around from a crowded room, moving on from Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks to open up opportunities for Golden, as well as Christian Watson.
Golden has repaid the faith the front office and coaching staff put in him and then some, putting up monster production on a near-weekly basis through the first half of his sophomore campaign.
He has broken his best single-game yardage total four times in the last nine games, including a new career high 164 yards against the Patriots on Sunday as he toasted one of the league’s top cornerbacks in Christian Gonzalez for much of the contest.
The 23-year-old never caught more than five passes in a game as a rookie. This year he has caught six passes four different times and set new career highs with seven and ten in the last two games. He has racked up 783 yards already, putting him on pace for 1,479 this season.
Remember when Golden could not score a touchdown? Those days are long gone. After waiting until the NFC Wild Card Round of last year’s playoffs to catch his first touchdown pass, he now has six in the last ten games.
This is not just a case of racking up stats solely due to a heavy workload though. Golden has been one of the most efficient receivers in the league, ranking 11th among qualified receivers in yards per route run, right above Ja’Marr Chase, Malik Nabers and Amon-Ra St. Brown.
If not for an uncharacteristically high drop total – considering his generally excellent hands which were on show as a rookie – of nine, which leads the league by a distance over DK Metcalf with six, it is scary to think what his production could look like.
Speaking about Golden on Wednesday, head coach Matt LaFleur said: “There’s a reason we drafted him in the first round, because we obviously liked the skill set. It was a crowded room last year.
“The way he ended the year in that playoff game in Chicago gave us a ton of confidence."
That performance against the Bears seems to have been the launching pad for Golden’s career from which he has never looked back. After having to wait sometimes as long as three years for first round picks to make an impact, Golden is showing what a huge jolt a budding star can provide.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers finally found a first-round superstar in Matthew Golden
