Green Bay Packers Top Pick Matthew Golden Making a Good First Impression

It’s only OTAs, but Green Bay Packers top draft pick Matthew Golden is already making a good first impression on the organization and his teammates. The speedy rookie out of Texas still has a lot to learn, but the skill and promise that made him the team’s first round pick is already on display.

Packers Matthew Golden Making a Good First Impression: Appearing in OTAs

The Packers work at OTAs was limited to non-contact practices and scrimmages including some two-minute drills to close out the session. The biggest goal is to teach young players the playbook and to get new players familiar with their teammates.

Wednesday, the practice was open to the media and Golden prominently made a few catches including one that featured a nice move to gain extra yards after the catch.

He did get some work with the first-string offense, but he saw most of his reps with the second stringers.

The Packers obviously have a crowded receiver room right now, even without Christian Watson being ready to fully practice. In fact, they signed another wideout on Thursday, adding undrafted free agent with good athleticism in Sam Brown. Brown was a teammate of Golden’s at the University of Houston but played last season at the University of Miami (Florida).

With all the competition in the receiver room, Golden will have to earn his playing time although as a first round pick, he will be given every opportunity to succeed.

Jordan Love Is Enthused

Packers starting quarterback Jordan Love has liked what he’s seen from his first-round pick, so far. “It’s been fun to see him out there,” Love explained to reporters. “The routes he’s running, the things he’s doing, he looks very smooth. He’s got great hands. Great body control, all those things. For him, the biggest thing is, how fast can he pick up the offense and be as consistent as possible knowing the things he needs to do on every play.”

“He’s a great dude. I’m excited to see just his potential on the football field,” Love said. “But just the start we’ve had, doing routes on air and things like that, he looks like a stud, looks like a very polished receiver, so I’m excited to see just how far he can take it.”

“The speed speaks for itself,” Love said. “Running a 40-yard dash, any time you get a 4.2, that’s some blazing speed right there, so I’m excited to see how fast he is on the field. I’ve seen all the highlights, all the good stuff, so we’ll see once we get practice rolling and everything how good he is.”

This should just be the beginning of this duo working together at practice and eventually during real games.

Packers Matthew Golden Making a Good First Impression: Learning and Growing

GM Brian Gutekunst has long been enthused about Golden’s potential. “He’s one of those guys. Covering him from a man perspective is going to be be extremely tough,” Gutekunst said after selecting Golden. “We get to some of those third downs when people are trying to mug us up, and you need someone to get open fast, he can do that. This goes back, and I can hear Ted [Thompson] in my head, you’ve got to catch it, and he had such good hands. For me, that was a big part of it too.”

Dropped passes were a big issue for the Packers last season. Adding a top potential top receiver with consistent hands could help keep drives alive and give Love a more reliable target. The incumbents are talented but have dropped far too many passes in the first few years of their careers.

For his part, Golden has his own goals when it comes to establishing a good relationship with his new quarterback. “Just gain his trust, man,” Golden said when asked about working with Love. “That’s from me just being able to put my best foot forward every day. Just go out there and create that chemistry with him.”

He’s started that process, but there’s still a lot more work to be done.