NFL Draft coverage can get tedious in the months of buildup. New mock drafts are released every week, and for much of the offseason they're pretty much just people throwing darts. But come draft week, things change.
Some people are still throwing darts, but some experts start to have a really good idea of who is being drafted where. These last-minute mock drafts are easily the most accurate, and Peter Schrager is consistently among the experts who best predict the first round.
That makes it especially interesting that in his 2025 mock draft released on Wednesday, Schrager has the Green Bay Packers finally doing something for Jordan Love that they never did for Aaron Rodgers.
Packers Land Texas WR Matthew Golden in Latest Mock Draft
Schrager projects the Packers to select Texas Longhorns wide receiver Matthew Golden with the No. 23 pick in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
This would mark the first time the Packers have spent a first-round pick on a wide receiver since Javon Walker in 2002. Jordan Love was three years old at the time, and Golden hadn't even been born.
The Packers' controversial approach to the wide receiver position makes headlines every year. Whether it's the "we have four No. 1 wide receiver" comments from LaFleur or Josh Jacobs publicly lamenting the lack of a true alpha receiver, the conversation has also been hotter than usual lately.
The team went through Aaron Rodgers' entire career without ever getting him a first-round receiver, and ultimately it felt like they largely wasted the potential the franchise had with one of the greatest quarterbacks of his generation. Love. so far, is not on Rodgers' level of greatness, so he'll need even more help than they ever gave Rodgers.
Golden is arguably the best wide receiver prospect in this year's draft class (one that is admittedly light on top-end WR talent), and he could completely transform the outlook of this offense.