The Green Bay Packers' rookie wide receiver Matthew Golden has been slowly increasing his offensive workload in recent weeks, getting more involved in the passing game, and played a season-high percentage of snaps with 73% in Week 7. He has had at least three catches in each of his last four games, but has yet to find paydirt. It is only a matter of time before Golden has a breakout game, and the Steelers, with their 31st-ranked pass defense, offered an excellent opportunity to do so.
Unfortunately, however, Golden is now dealing with an unexpected injury. In the official injury report released by the team on Friday, the rookie playmaker was listed as a limited participant in practice and questionable to play on Sunday with a hip injury. This was the first injury designation for Golden after he was a full participant with no issues all week, raising questions about the details and the severity of the injury.
Packers' WR Depth Is Getting Tested After Latest Injury Report
In the same report, Dontayvion Wicks was listed as out as he missed practice all week, and Christian Watson is listed as questionable as he still awaits to make his season debut. Wicks' absence could give Golden more targets if he ends up suiting. Otherwise, it should be all-you-can-eat for Romeo Doubs and an increased role for Savion Williams and Malik Heath. Williams has yet to earn the trust of Matt LaFleur and the coaching staff, so we could even see Bo Melton getting some snaps on offense.
While wide receiver is arguably the deepest position on the roster, the Packers have been getting their depth tested. Jayden Reed is already on the injured reserve list, and now, they may be slowly running out of bodies.
Yet, this could also be a very cautious approach from the Packers. Green Bay tends to have a longer injury list than most teams on most weeks, and this could just be a minor tweak. There is also a chance that this injury may not be significant enough to keep him out on Sunday, but it could limit his impact.
The Packers will surely bring Watson along slowly in his first game of the season if he is ready to play. It will likely be a while before the speedster is back to being fully himself. So, Golden should continue to be the top deep threat on the team even with Watson back. Whether he can make the most of them and finally find the end zone remains to be seen. More importantly, however, let's hope that his injury is not a big concern for Sunday and beyond.