Much was made of when the Green Bay Packers selected rookie wide receiver, Matthew Golden, with the 23rd pick of the 2025 NFL Draft back in April.
It was the first time the franchise had selected an offensive skill position in the first round since wideout, Javon Walker back in 2002, and it was announced triumphantly by outgoing Team President, Mark Murphy at the draft that was held in Green Bay for the first time in 85 years.
Golden certainly has potential, but in a room that has a number of mouths to feed – he has ended up being the odd-man-out on numerous occasions this season. So much so that he has failed to score a single touchdown on the year.
And whilst that may seem like a fairly inconspicuous statistic, it comes with it some alarming history.
Matthew Golden Join An Unfortunate ‘Club’ After Week 18
Underdog compiled a list of wide receivers over the past ten years who failed to score a touchdown in their debut campaign, and the results are not pretty.
“1st Round WRs since 2015 that put up ZERO TDs in their rookie season…”, Underdog posted on X.
– Corey Davis –
– Mike Williams
– Josh Doctson
Matthew Golden has yet to find the end zone with one week remaining”.
Mike Williams is the only player on the list who went on to have a good – if injury marred – career as a pro. And none of the players on the list managed a single combined Pro Bowl or All-Pro nod.
Golden obviously still has one more game to get the much-coveted first touchdown in the regular season, and – barring injury – at least one playoff game. And even then, correlation is not causation; his lack of touchdowns in year one will not, in and of itself, cause the former Texas man to have a sub-par career in the pros.
But, irregardless, he will certainly not want to join what is otherwise essentially “Bust + Mike Williams” group of names.
Golden’s First Season Has Not Gone To Plan
This is hardly due to any objective measure of terrible play or poor hands, Golden has the best catch-rate out of the team’s top-five receivers (catches/targets) outside of Jayden Reed, who has managed just 6 games in what has been an injury hit season that saw him break his clavicle and suffer a Jones fracture in his foot.
But the Packers simply have a lot of good wide receivers on the team. And one of those receivers, Christian Watson, has seen a huge resurgence since returning from his ACL tear suffered back in January 2025, and is looking like one of the more promising and dynamic young receivers in football.
Even with Golden set to play in an auxiliary role come the playoffs, the team will hope that in the years ahead he can establish himself as a key cog in the Packers’ offense.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Packers Rookie In Danger Of Following Troubling First Season Trend appeared first on Heavy Sports.