Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - In the days leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, WGR will provide profiles on some players that could be a good fit for the Buffalo Bills at positions of need.
In the final week leading up to the NFL Draft this Thursday, we are focusing on wide receivers.
Mathew Golden was a four-star recruit coming out of high school in 2022 in Houston, Texas. He decided to play college football in his hometown, and accepted a scholarship from the University of Houston.
Golden spent two seasons with the Cougars, and set a freshman record in 2022 with seven touchdowns. Over those two years, Golden caught 76 passes for 988 yards and 13 touchdowns. He missed three games in his sophomore season with an injury.
He also returned kicks for the Cougars, and was All-Big 12 as a returner for the 2023 season.
The 5-foot-11 and 191-pound wideout then transferred to the University of Texas, and put together a strong 2024 campaign as he started every game for the Longhorns. He led the team in receiving yards with 987. Golden, who can play all three receiving positions, averaged 17 yards a catch and had nine touchdowns.
Golden's two best games came on the big stage. In an overtime loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, Golden had 162 yards receiving. Then in the college football playoff quarterfinals, Golden totaled 149 yards and had a touchdown in the Longhorns' win over Arizona State.
They key to Golden's game is speed, as he ran a 4.29 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine.
Here is what Joe Marino from the “Locked on Bills” and “Locked on NFL Scouting” podcasts has to say about Golden:
Positives:
Matthew Golden is a big-time field stretcher with the speed to win vertically down the field. It's not just that he's fast, but he's got excellent ball tracking skills, and makes terrific adjustments down the field, so he provides a major vertical component to an offense.
I love the overall route running profile. Because he can win deep with speed, that allows him to really break off routes and win in the intermediate area of the field because teams have to respect the vertical components so much.
While he's not the biggest receiver, I think Golden has excellent body control at the catch point, and can really extend for the football even when there's some traffic around him.
While you would look at him as a speed guy that's going to be dynamic separating against man coverage, I do think he has a good feel for zone coverage in space and excellent spatial awareness to give him some zone busting elements, in addition to his ability to separate and uncover from man coverage.
Concerns:
I think for a player with this type of profile, you wish the yards after catch profile was more dynamic. I think he's just OK with the ball in his hands, and he's not super creative. He's going to win after the catch more just with speed and being able to win foot races. I wish there was more of a "make you miss" profile.
I do think as a route runner, he's pretty technical, but he can be tall in his route stems and in his release package. Teams are probably going to dare him to beat press coverage, and Texas would often put him in motion to allow him to get free releases.
Now he's not a flat only. I think 80% of his career snaps came in wide alignments, but you could tell that Texas was pretty intentional about giving him opportunities to have a runway to get into his route stem. I think he's going to have to prove his ability to beat that press coverage, which is going to come at the next level so being a little bit more technical with his release package will be very important.
WGR will provide full coverage of the 2025 NFL Draft during all seven rounds, starting Thursday, April 24 and continuing through Saturday, April 26.
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