Green Bay’s wide receiving corps doesn’t possess any true No. 1 standouts, instead counting on the combined efforts of players such as Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks and Christian Watson the past couple seasons.
The ensemble experienced some issues with drops last year, and Watson is still on the mend from a torn ACL he suffered in Week 18.
Golden could step in right away as a speedy replacement for Watson, while fellow rookie Savion Williams is the type of gadget player who might take some pressure of Reed in that regard so the third-year wideout can shine a bit more on traditional routes.
If he is called on early and often, Golden has every confidence that he’ll be ready.
“Just my versatility, what I can do, I can play anywhere on the field,” Golden said. “Just doing what the team needs me to do. That’s what I did at Texas and that’s what I’m going to continue to do. Just being in the position to play for the Green Bay Packers man, it means so much to me.”
Golden indeed did damage in a number of ways during his final season with the Longhorns, contributing 987 yards and nine touchdowns on 58 receptions for a team that reached the College Football Playoff.
He still needs to refine his route running if he expects to truly affect the game from a variety of alignments at the NFL level, though. Another hurdle will be establishing chemistry with quarterback Jordan Love.
“It’s going to be what it’s supposed to be, you know, over time, you got to build, you got to gain his trust,” Golden said of building a rapport with his QB. “So, for me, it’s just going out there, you just put my best foot forward each and every day and just allowing him to know that I’m going to be right where I need to be. So, I just feel like for me it’s going happen over time.”
For now, he has the right mindset, one of patient conviction.
Next comes making the progress expected of him throughout his rookie year to help lift the Packers to a Super Bowl perch they’ve not reached since the 2010 season.