Texas Coach: Packers No. 1 Pick Matthew Golden’s Rise Built on Trust

GREEN BAY, Wis. – When receiver Matthew Golden, the Green Bay Packers’ first-round draft pick on Thursday, cracks open the playbook for the first, runs his first route and reacts to his first line-of-scrimmage adjustment, it will be a familiar feeling.

Golden spent his first two seasons at Houston before transferring to Texas. It wasn’t an easy adjustment. During the first 10 games, he had just one game of 65-plus receiving yards. By the end of the season, Golden was the Longhorns’ premier, go-to receiver.

On the way to the Longhorns advancing to the College Football Playoff semifinals, Golden had seven catches for 86 yards against Kentucky, eight catches for 162 yards in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia and seven catches for 149 yards and one touchdown against Arizona State in the quarterfinals.

What changed?

“Matt was somebody that just really bought into the system,” Texas receivers coach and passing-game coordinator Chris Jackson, who played for the Packers when they drafted Javon Walker in the first round in 2002, told Packers On SI.

“He learned to develop trust, not only from the coaching staff but, more importantly, (quarterback) Quinn Ewers. He learned to understand where he was and fits to our concepts, when he was primary, when he had to do what he had to do for the benefit of another player, whether it be in a run or the pass game.

“So, all that being said, once the latter part of that season kicked in, I think it all started to make sense for Matt. He understood when he was primary, he understood when he needed to do what he needed to do for other players. He was unselfish and he worked his butt off, and he really learned to practice and develop the trust of his teammates and coaching staff.”

The word “trust” was big. It’s the word Texas coach Steve Sarkisian used after Golden’s big game against Arizona State.

How do you build that trust as a new player to a program with an established quarterback – which, obviously, will be the reality again for Golden in Green Bay?

“Through practicing,” Jackson said. “It started in the fall to where he came through here learning a new system, made his mistakes, had a couple mental errors and had to figure out, ‘Man, OK, I got to figure out what side of the ball I’m on in regards to the right side, the left side, X or Z, what role I’m playing in this particular role.’

“When he first got here, like a lot of the young kids I’m working with right now, they’re just running lines. They’re running what’s best for them. But as the season went on, he started to understand coverages and his roles.”

It wasn’t always smooth sailing. At Texas, as is the case in Green Bay, receivers are expected to learn all the spots and not just the X or the slot.

“It took him a minute, I’m not going to lie,” Jackson said. “It took him through fall and well into the first part of the season to really understand his role and understand how our offense worked and into the depth of how our offense worked. So, the more comfortable he got, the more we were able to move him around. With his unique skill-set, we were able to move him around in the red zone and put him on a lot of the catch points and the double-move points.”

The more Golden understood, the more trust he earned; the more trust he earned, the more opportunities – important opportunities – he got.

Matthew Golden vs. Arizona State was absolutely dominant on film:

➖ 7 Receptions
➖ 149 Yards
➖ 1 TD
➖ OT 2-Pt Conversion
➖ 6 1st Downs

Enjoy some All-22 highlights below… https://t.co/YOGJaPCS3D pic.twitter.com/izbNSoJdUI
— SCOUTD (@scoutdnfl) March 6, 2025

“Now,” Jackson said, “when you start getting into the red zone, he built that trust being our red-zone target. So, we would always put him at a lot of the catch points, whether there’ll be double moves in the red zone or in a particular area. And those are things that he was very successful at, and you saw those in film in the latter part of the season.”

It all came together during a clutch performance against Arizona State in the Peach Bowl, a performance highlighted by a 28-yard touchdown on fourth-and-13 to extend the game to a second overtime.

Paired with his monster game a few weeks earlier against Georgia, why did Golden come up so big in big moments?

“It’s just who we were and it’s how we used him and it’s the role that he built for himself here,” Jackson said. “You know, a lot of that came from him. We talked about the trust piece already, but the trust piece had a huge part in that.

“So, when we were able to put people at double moves on third-and-10, third-and-12, the fourth-down-and-long against Arizona State, that was not just a random person. There were particular people that developed that trust to be in that position to be successful. For him, he developed that trust and he worked his butt off to be successful and gain that trust.”

For Golden, he said earning the trust of Ewers and Sarkisian came down to “being reliable.” He’ll have to do it again with Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur.

“In critical situations, I always showed up,” Golden said after being drafted. “When our back was against the wall, they could count on me to come out with a big play, and that’s something I kept doing continuously. Coming here, that’s definitely the same mindset I’m bringing – to make big plays and come out here and win games. I’m bringing that chip on my shoulder like I’ve got something to prove and putting my best foot forward.”

For Jackson, this was the second consecutive season in which he coached a first-round pick, with Golden joining Xavier Worthy, the Chiefs’ top pick last season

After Golden was picked, Jackson talked to his star pupil.

“To be a first-round draft pick in the NFL, there’s only 32 of them every year,” he said. “You’re talking about being one of 32 people of your peers in all of college football. That’s a lot to be excited for and a lot to be respected for. So, to me, I just think being in Green Bay, being drafted by Green Bay, with the history of Green Bay not drafting a wide receiver since Javon Walker in 2002, all that just heightened the situation.

“But with Coach LaFleur there, with Jordan Love and the wide receiver play, I think he’s going to be very successful there. So, he couldn’t have fell into a better situation.”

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