How they fit in: Rookie Receivers

Matthew Golden and Savion Williams at rookie minicamp, Evan Siegle of Packers.com

The 2025 draft has concluded, and with it, we have a clear picture of what exactly the 2025 Green Bay Packers will look like. There are likely still some small signings to come (barring the news of Jaire Alexander’s fate with the team), but the concrete foundations of the team have been laid.

I’ll be putting together a more complete picture of the Packers’ offseason soon, but I’d like to start with taking a look at how these new additions will exactly fit in with the current room. Today’s topic has been the talk of the town for the entire offseason, so what better place to start than with the receiving room.

In one of the iconic draft moments for the Packers in recent memory, Mark Murphy had the honor of announcing the selection of Matthew Golden to the hometown fans, in almost WWE-like fashion. Such an introduction was fitting for Golden, who seems to have become a fan favorite overnight. And who could blame the fans for attaching themselves to him?

The more surprising move of the draft, and perhaps the most controversial, was the selection of Savion Williams in the third round. Starting the draft off with three picks on offense was certainly not within anyone’s expectations heading into the draft, and left us all scratching our heads. Even GM Brian Gutekunst told reporters “I didn’t think I’d be up here talking about taking two receivers”.

We will likely never know who exactly the Packers had entered the third round targeting with the 87th selection, but we do know that by the time that pick rolled around, they were gone. It’s rumored cornerback Nohl Williams had been a possibility for the team, but the team was denied the chance to take him, and could only watch as the Kansas City Chiefs traded up before them to select the Cal product.

Whether or not the Packers had been hoping for Nohl Williams, Savion Williams was the highest rated prospect on their board instead.

And now, we are left to wonder at how the team possibly plans to inject another two highly talented rookie receivers into their lineup that was already struggling to get everyone the targets they deserved. Entering the 2024 season, the receiving group as a whole was regarded as a major strength, an ascending group of potential stars that seemingly held no egos, and possessed complementary strengths.Christian Watson possesses the speed and size to give defensive coordinators nightmares, while Dontayvion Wicks (despite his drops issues) was one of the best separators in the entire league. Romeo Dobbs was a reliable possession receiver, and Jayden Reed was the do-it-all slot weapon that could give defenses nightmares. At tight end, Luke Musgrave was a vertical threat to stress linebackers and safeties, while Tucker Kraft could create massive yards after catch. After a strong end to 2023, where could the group go collectively, but up?

There was, as it turned out, a bit of a failure to launch. The group simply could never stay consistent enough, whether through the fault of injuries, drops or a plain lack of development. For a group that seemed to have several players poised to take that next step, only Tucker Kraft has done so.

This is not to say that the group is not good at all. They were 16th in the league in receiving grade with a 75.0, and 18th in pass grade with a 74.1. They were also 16th in total yards and 10th in touchdowns. Was there room to improve? Absolutely. But to say that the receivers were a weight dragging the offense down would be incorrect.

Even so, the front office clearly felt that the team was missing something, while also urgently needing a temporary (or long term) replacement for Christian Watson. Watson played a total of 554 snaps during the 2024 season, the third most of any of the team’s receivers. His deep field stretching ability is a key component to Matt LaFluer’s defense, especially since the rise of cover-2 by modern defenses. Watson forces those safeties to stay deep, which opens up areas underneath for easy exploitation by others.

As noted, his ACL tear will keep him out of the 2025 season for about three months, and the team will have to replace him somehow.

Another major deficiency in the group as we head into the 2025 season are drops. The team was third in the entire league in 2024 with 33, behind the Browns and Jets and tied with the Giants. Not exactly a group you’d love to find yourself associated with in any category. Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks specifically were major liabilities in this department.

Looking from a more advanced stats perspective, we can also identify another deficiency, regarding depth of target from Jordan Love. When Love targeted receivers in short (0–9 yards) and deep (20+ yards) depths, his PFF grades were well above average (85.4 and 80.1 respectively). However when attempting intermediate passes (10–19 yards) his grade drops to 65.7. Considering Love attempted as many medium passes as deep passes, this is a major problem. Having to stay away from the middle of the field means that defenses are free to dictate terms.

I don’t lay this problem at the feet of Love entirely, and to me speaks more to a lack of proper spacing by the receivers. This is an area where the impact of a deep, field stretching receiver scares me the most, as we head into 2025.

Enter Matthew Golden and Savion Williams.

Golden, a junior from the University of Texas, has all the makings of a star in the NFL. There are two things you notice about him almost immediately, perhaps best made obvious by his spider chart.

He’s fast, and he’s small.

That 4.29 40 yard dash time instantly catches your eye, doesn’t it? It puts him at a 97% percentile among receivers who have run the drill. And while it’s true that the 40 is often referred to as the most overrated drill at the NFL combine, there’s no arguing that the 10 yard split is a key indication of acceleration. Here again Golden was elite, boasting a 90% percentile. If you’ve browsed other scouting reports on Golden, a common theme is that this 4.29 40 speed does not often show up on film. I’ve seen a few scouts place his on-film time closer to around what a 4.44 would look like.

However, Golden’s true calling card as a receiver are his movement skills. While he didn’t publicly attempt any of the agility drills during the draft process, this is a skill that shows plainly on the field. Golden is a smooth and natural route runner, able to trick defenders with his acceleration and deceleration though breaks. As a deep threat, Golden wins by using his straight line speed to set up comebacks, digs and crossers, which creates natural separation.

The other side of the coin is his size. Golden stands at 6'0", 195 lbs, ranking in the 33% and 43% percentiles. While neither are real detriments to any success in the NFL, Golden will need to adjust to defenders using that lack of size against him, especially at the catch point. He makes up for this with his outstanding ability to track balls in the air, and make in-air adjustments.

The opposite is true, however, for the team’s next selection, who in my opinion has the highest ceiling of any of the Packers selections.

Savion Williams out of TCU is an absolute mammoth of a human being. Let’s take a look at his spider chart.

While from a body and athletic profile perspective, Williams does come closer to a Christian Watson type, the problem is that his skills as an actual receiver are far from polished, and as Williams is already 24, there are certainly questions about how much development could be available for him.

If he can develop, the sky’s the limit for Williams. He’s a “get him the ball and get out of the way” type of receiver. During his time at TCU, the Horned Frogs took advantage of his skills in a variety of ways, including lining him up in the backfield and even as a wildcat quarterback. Most receivers who enter the league with this kind of skillset are usually undersized, but Williams is obviously not. That’s his superpower, and that extremely rare blend of size and agility could make him an absolute nightmare in the NFL.

Williams certainly uses his size to his advantage, and is a willing blocker on the outside for both running back and his fellow receivers. This is a huge advantage for WIlliams when trying to earn reps in Matt LaFluer’s system.

Neither Golden nor WIlliams enter the league without drop questions, however. Matthew Golden had a college drop rate of 9.4%, and Williams had a 10.4%. Neither of the rookies will solve the team’s drops question, and will in fact be needing to hit the jugs machine along with everyone else.

So, it seems as though Christian Watson’s impact on the Packers will not be entirely replaced by either Golden or Williams. However, I’m reminded of a quote from Brad Pit’s Billy Beane in Moneyball: “ Guys, you’re still trying to replace Giambi. I told you we can’t do it, and we can’t do it. Now, what we might be able to do is re-create him. Recreate him in the aggregate.”

Take Golden’s top end speed, and deep threat ability, and pair it with Williams’ terrifying size. What would you get if you combined them? A top five pick type of prospect. Obviously we can’t just combine prospects together, but what you can do is ensure that either Golden or Williams is in on most plays in that Watson role, or perhaps both at the same time.

Imagine Golden and Williams together, stacked on one side of the formation. That’s a whole lot of size, speed and athleticism at once, and ensures that the defense has no choice but to pay special attention to that side of the field. There’s also endless route combinations that ensure the two end up exploiting defenses, likely with Golden deeper in the second and third levels of the defense and Williams underneath.

It’s likely Golden will see more opportunities and snaps in the league this season, as the first round pick. Williams will need to battle for his snaps in training camp, but a talent like his will see at least a couple of schemed-up touches a game, especially considering the creative offensive mind of Matt LaFluer. I could easily see at least five variations of screens, end-arounds and reverses a game for Williams to get the ball immediately.

Golden possesses a much more polished route running tree, as well as deep threat ability. He’s an every-down type of receiver that can attack any area of the field. I think Golden will almost certainly see as many snaps as established receivers like Romeo Dobbs and Dontayvion Wicks.

Both rookies will need to polish their blocking skills in order to maximize their snap counts, especially in the Packers’ offense. While Williams has the size to do it effectively, Golden does not. There are questions about whether you could even play Matthew Golden alongside current receiver Jayden Reed, considering their similar statures. Seeing both on the field at the same time might clue the defense in on the fact that it will likely be a passing play.

While nothing is set in stone and these two rookies have an enormous amount of work to do in order to find their niche in the league, I’m confident the Packers’ scouting staff have found two young men who are ready and willing to put that work in. By all accounts, their college coaches, teammates and beat writers have been singing the praises of both, and should only add to the current group of receivers' selfless, group-first reputation.