Packers’ Matthew Golden makes bold declaration about second season

The Green Bay Packers selected wide receiver Matthew Golden in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2025 NFL Draft out of Texas, and he would ultimately appear in 14 games in his rookie campaign, starting five of them.

In fact, Golden became the first drafted wide receiver by the Packers in the first round of the NFL Draft since 2002.

While there were some natural growing pains of transitioning from college to the NFL, Golden believes that he’s prepared himself well for his second season in the league, and he’s oozing with confidence.

“I have a lot of confidence in myself and I know what I have done,” Golden said via Weston Hodkiewicz on X, formerly known as Twitter. “To me, it wasn’t anything yet. I know it’s a lot more out there. I’m excited for it. I know I’m gonna prove myself right.”

Meanwhile, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur made it clear what Golden must do in order to make the most of his opportunities as an NFL sophomore player.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for him to go out there and take,” LaFleur said via FanSided. “Although the season didn’t end the way we wanted as a football team, I thought that was his best performance. I’m not even talking about catches or yards, just the playstyle that we’re looking for. I thought he showed a lot of competitiveness.”

Overall, Golden accumulated 361 receiving yards on 29 receptions during his rookie season, while also racking up 49 rushing yards and 28 return yards. He also averaged 12.4 yards per catch.