The Green Bay Packers just don’t select wide receivers in the first round of the NFL Draft. They’re more than happy to take a wideout in the second and beyond — and they’ve had great success in doing so — but this is not a franchise that likes to spend massive draft capital at that position.
The Packers have always been an “old-school” franchise in both team building through the draft and free agency. That’s the style general manager Brian Gutekunst learned as he came up under Ted Thompson, who came up under Ron Wolf.
Interestingly enough, ESPN’s Peter Schrager thinks the Packers will find a star wide receiver in the NFL Draft, and they’ll be bucking their own history by doing so. In his only mock draft based on sources throughout the NFL, Schrager has the Packers selecting wideout Matthew Golden out of Texas.
I know it’s out of character for Green Bay to take a receiver in Round 1 — they haven’t done it since 2002 — but in this scenario, Golden could slide right to them. And I can’t see him sliding much more,” Schrager wrote. “Green Bay could go in several directions. I doubt anyone thought the Packers could get the consensus top wideout on many boards, though.”
Golden is a 6-foot, 195-pound wideout from Houston, Texas, who was extremely productive for the Longhorns last season. He caught 58 passes for 987 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging a healthy 17 yards per catch.
He projects to be a true No. 1 wide receiver at the NFL level, and as Schrager wrote, if he slides down to the Packers at No. 23, they’d be foolish not to draft him.
Javon Walker was the last wide receiver the Packers took in the first round, He was selected No. 20 overall in the 2002 NFL Draft. He had one great season in Green Bay (2004) when he put up 89 catches for 1,382 yards and 12 touchdowns, but he largely never reached his potential with the Packers.