The Green Bay Packers have excelled defensively this season, but their offense has started to get things going in recent weeks amid a four-game winning streak. One of the few negatives, though, has been the underwhelming play from rookie wide receiver Matthew Golden, who is coming off a team-low five offensive snaps in the win over the Chicago Bears and has vanished from the Packers offense.
It always seems like Golden is going to have a larger role in the offense, only for him to barely play a factor at all. Head coach Matt LaFleur was asked if he expected Golden and Dontayvion Wicks to play more snaps in the Week 14 win over Chicago, and it appears that was the plan prior to the game.
"I would say yes. ... Kind of going into that game, it was for more or less passing situations only," LaFleur said, per Jason B. Hirschhorn, award-winning writer and co-founder of The Leap. "Just didn't need him as much as we thought going into the game."
With only one target the entire game, which was a season-low, it was clear that Golden had no role in the game whatsoever. That was the latest sign of Golden being expected to carve out a bigger role in game plans, and nothing happening, which is not what you would expect from a first-round draft pick with exceptional speed and talent.
It's been an ongoing theme. Just when it seems like Golden is ready to be a key cog in the offensive machine, he ends up having a quiet Sunday.
Matthew Golden Must Find a Way to Show Up Consistently
While Golden has been relatively quiet and has not lived up to expectations yet, the Packers need to be patient with him.
He has 24 catches for 286 yards and zero touchdowns, but he has demonstrated what he can do when the targets come his way. Look no further than the Week 6 win over the Cincinnati Bengals when he had a season-high 86 receiving yards and 28.7 yards per reception. When he is a factor in the offense, it is clear what Golden brings to this team with his speed and athleticism.
Since that breakout performance, Golden only has 74 total yards and 10 catches on 14 targets. Shoulder and wrist injuries have certainly limited his ability in recent weeks, but when you consider he is now on a team with a loaded receiving corps, which presents fewer opportunities to get the ball like he was used to at Texas, it is going to be a steep learning curve at first.
Keep in mind, teammates Christian Watson and Wicks are two examples of players who started slowly in their careers, only to become two of quarterback Jordan Love's reliable targets, highlighted by their combined seven touchdown grabs this season.
The positive steps Golden has taken are clear despite his on-field results, but he may have some more difficulty in Sunday's road trip to the Denver Broncos. Although the Broncos have won each of their last five games by one score, they enter Week 15 at 11-2 with 10 straight wins. That is mainly due to a stingy defense that allows the fourth-fewest points per game (18.1 PPG), the third-fewest yards per game (282 YPG), and the 10th-fewest pass yards per game (193 YPG). That is not ideal for a rookie WR struggling to receive targets already, which could lead to another dud in what will be a tough matchup all around.
Even if Golden is not much of a factor once again this week, having receivers like Romeo Doubs, Watson, and Wicks around him is a huge plus, considering each of them has had similar starts to their careers, only to blossom into key contributors on this offense. The mixed results so far are not ideal, but with the skillset he brings and the experience he is gaining during his rookie season, it is only a matter of time before Golden becomes a consistent part of this offense and proves that Green Bay knew what it was doing when it selected him in the first round.