PRO 2025 Rookie Spotlight: Matthew Golden, WR Texas
Rookie Spotlight: Matthew Golden, Texas
Height: 6-0
Weight: 195
Hands:
Arm:
2025 Age: 22 – (8/1/03)
NFL Play-Style Comparison: Jordan Addison
Other RW Staff Comps: Odell Beckham Jr.
Draft Grade: 2nd Round
Projected 40: 4.44
Breakout Age: 21 (Junior)
Offensive Market Share Metrics (Final Season)
Receptions: 16%
Receiving Yards: 20%
Receiving TDs: 24%
High School: Klein Cain HS (Klein, Texas)
As a high school prospect: Class of 2022; 4-star (5.8)
College Attended: Houston(2), Texas(1)
Pros
– Strong release package with tempo to place him in advantageous situations against defenders
– Deceptive downfield breakaway speed
– Elite Catch Radius, Adjusts his body and lays out to make the catch (turn on the SEC Title Game)
– Played predominantly outside, but proved he could compete in the slot at a 23% rate
– 21 “explosive” plays of 20+ yards, 4th in College Football
– 722 career kick return yards (25.8 per return)
Cons
– Doesn’t present a prototypical size/speed profile that you’d like to see from outside weapons, rather an elite no. 2
– 6+ receptions in a game just seven times in his career (20% of games)
– Below average (1.88) yards per route run
– Would love to see more action while on the backside of the play and in the run game
Highlight/Film
Scouting Notes:
During his Sophomore season at Houston, Matthew Golden averaged 35.7 yards per kick return with 2 touchdowns, that dynamism in the return game, coupled with 404 receiving yards and 6 scores allowed him to take advantage of the transfer portal and head north/west to the University of Texas in 2024. In his first and only season at Texas, Golden bolstered his yards per reception from 10.6 to 16.7, a 6.1-yard growth in one season. As a prospect, Golden presents an interesting combination of deceptive speed as well as an elite ability to find the ball and contort his body and frame the football in those tight situations. The game that sticks out in this regard came against his toughest opponent, Georgia, in the SEC Championship game although there were similar moments through Texas’ 2024 season, particularly in its CFP run. Though Golden has never statistically “broken out” by hitting a 20% team market share, he was close in 2023 (17.8%) and 2024 (19.8%). The game against Georgia put Golden on the map as a player who can play not only play at the next level but be an elite contributor as a no.2 in an NFL offense, EARLY. His lower yards per route run (Y/RR) can be explained by playing with an abundance of talent at Texas with potentially 1st Round Pick Isaiah Bond, and two other 2025 NFL Draft prospects in Gunnar Helm and Silas Bolden as well as pass-catching running backs in Jaydon Blue and Tre Wisner. At times I find myself wanting more from Golden when the football is scheduled to go to the other side of the field or a run play is called, he doesn’t “take plays off” but he tends to go through the motions. I see Golden as a sure-fire Day 2 pick; think about guys in recent years like Ja’Lynn Polk, Adonai Mitchell, Rashee Rice, and Alec Pierce as a prospect, all guys that were drafted inside the Top 60 — although Golden certainly has room to elevate his stock into first-round consideration with an excellent draft process. He was one of the biggest risers at any position through the second half of the college football season due to injuries in his surrounding cast pushing him to the forefront where he took full advantage. Golden will likely start out with a late-second-round ADP in 2025 12-team traditional dynasty league rookie drafts with wiggle room from there based on NFL landing spot and draft capital.
