2025 NFL Draft prospect profile – Matthew Golden, WR, Texas

Could Golden be the best receiver to come out of this draft?

There’s a perception that the 2025 NFL Draft has a weak wide receiver class.

The reality, however, is that this year’s draft has a good and talented group of receivers, but they have the misfortune of following a fantastically deep and talented class is last year’s draft. The 2025 receiving class has a diverse set of players with a huge variety of traits and skill sets. There might not be many “universal” fits, but this draft will produce plenty of starters.

Texas receiver Matthew Golden has been flying a bit under the radar and has been overlooked by the public at large. However, he’s a great athlete as well as a very savvy technician. That’s a combination of traits that typically leads to a rookie hitting the ground running and having an impact right away.

The New York Giants might not need to draft a receiver early, but there’s a possibility that Golden could land with a rival. And with that in mind, he’s definitely worth looking at.

Prospect: Matthew Golden (2)
Games Watched: vs. Michigan (2024), vs. Oklahoma (2024), vs. Georgia (2024), vs. Texas A&M (2024)

Measurables

Kent Lee Platte | RAS.football

Strengths

Best traits

• Route running
• Athleticism
• Ball skills
• Competitive toughness

Matthew Golden is a highly athletic, savvy, and competitive receiver prospect.

He has a compact, powerful build with good thickness in his upper and lower halves. That’s reflected in some remarkably springy athleticism, and Golden is quick, agile, and fast. He is one of the fastest players in this year’s draft class, turning in a 4.29-second 40-yard dash. He also has very good agility and movement skills as well as acceleration.

That quickness and agility allows Golden to cut sharply and suddenly, as well as get off the line efficiently against tight coverage.

He combines his athletic traits with impressively savvy route running, and Golden treats every part of his route as a weapon. He easily discards physical jams, bends his stem to create room, plays with his stride length and frequency to throw off defenders’ timing, and understands how to run his routes into defenders’ chests before breaking back to the ball.

Golden is also a highly competitive receiver. He fights through tight coverage, is willing to lay his body on the line to make a catch, and gets after defenders as a blocker. He didn’t even shy away from blocking Georgia EDGE Mykell Williams when Texas played Georgia. He’s a dangerous runner with the ball, combining his athleticism with his toughness and play strength to exploit space or run through arm tackles.

Finally, Golden is unselfish as a teammate. Golden is quick to transition from receiver to blocker, and does what he has to in order to help his teammates. Likewise, he runs every route as though he’s expecting the ball, drawing coverage or creating traffic to slow defenders.

Weaknesses

Worst traits

• Size
• Workload

There are two main issues regarding Golden’s profile, and they likely won’t be concerns for every team.

The first, and most notable, is his size. Golden has a stout build at 191 pounds, but is a bit on the short side at 5-foot-11, with 30-inch arms. His size limits his catch radius as well as his ability to win against bigger, more physical defenders. Contested catch situations were rare at Texas due to their scheme as well as Golden’s athleticism and route running. However, they’ll be much more common at the NFL level, and some teams may have concerns as to his ability to win in close quarters against bigger defenders.

Likewise, Golden has been a low-volume receiver throughout his college career, with a high of just 58 catches this past year. He doesn’t have as large a track record as other prospects, and teams may feel less confident in their evaluations of him because of that.

Game Tape

(Golden is the Texas receiver wearing number 2.)

Projection

Matthew Golden projects as a starting receiver at the NFL level, with alignment and schematic versatility.

Some teams may look at Golden as a slot receiver due to his size. However, much like Zay Flowers, his play strength, route running, and athleticism should allow him to play on the outside in most modern schemes.

Golden has been a late bloomer, and wasn’t even featured all that heavily at Texas. However, a close look at his tape reveals a talented player whose combination athleticism and skill should allow him to produce immediately upon entering the NFL. Golden is quietly one of the very best receivers in this draft class and should be a very pleasant surprise for the fans of whichever team drafts him.

Does he fit the Giants?
Schematically yes, but not from a value perspective.

Final Word: A later first or early second round talent.