Bucketing the Packers' draft picks (and taking a stand for what's good and proper)

Which of the Packers' draft picks made the most sense? Which raised some eyebrows? Which has the most untapped potential?

Good morning!

It happened. This past week, the NFL held its annual player draft in Wisconsin for the first time since December 1939. The Leap's own Peter Bukowski was on the scene, shaking hands, kissing babies, and leading the choreography and merriment.

By virtually every account, the 2025 NFL Draft proved to be a huge success as a live event. Praise rolled in from all corners, and not just from stakeholders. It might take a while before the draft returns to Wisconsin, but the league likely won't wait another 85 years and change before doing so.

Of course, the crux of the event remains the player selections, and the Green Bay Packers made eight over the three days of the draft. Today's edition of The Leap highlights a few picks: the one that made the most sense in the moment, the one that most raised eyebrows, and the one with the most untapped potential.

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The pick that made the most sense in the moment was …

Jason B. Hirschhorn: … Matthew Golden.

As The Leap detailed throughout the offseason, the Packers needed to bolster their receiver corps in a meaningful way. Not only will Christian Watson miss a significant chunk of the upcoming season, but he and Romeo Doubs have contracts that expire next March. And while Jayden Reed has carried the offense for stretches and Dontayvion Wicks rebounded after a poor start to 2024, the team needed to add additional firepower to the passing game for both the short and long term.

Golden addressed those concerns in a significant fashion. While he doesn't profile as the traditional backside X receiver, he did emerge as the fulcrum of Texas' offense during the team's most important stretch of 2024. When the Longhorns needed to convert in the highest-leverage moments, they turned to Golden who promptly delivered. Many of those highlights have made the rounds in the days since Green Bay selected him, and he certainly has made his fair share of impressive catches.

However, Golden's best moments arguably came on plays that might seem routine at first glance. So often, he would break off his route and work back toward the quarterback to provide an outlet, turning potential negative plays into decent gains. This helped keep the offense on schedule despite its many hiccups.

Golden also bailed out Texas signal-caller Quinn Ewers with alarming regularity. For much of the season, Ewers underthrew his receivers or otherwise placed the ball in a suboptimal location. Yet, Golden did such a good job tracking the ball over his shoulder that he made the reception appear easy.

And, of course, Golden has nearly unmatched speed. While he doesn't always appear to run as fast as his 4.29-second 40-yard dash, he does a tremendous job of varying his speed and using those gear shifts to mislead defenders.

That doesn't make Golden a flawless prospect. Though he plays larger than his frame, that doesn't erase any and all concerns with a 5-foot-11, 191-pound wideout. He also performed much better against zone coverage than man.

Still, his athleticism and skill set suggest he can eventually become a dependable man-beater in time. Certainly, the Packers believe that can happen.

"He's one of those guys that, from a covering him and from a man (coverage) perspective, it's going to be extremely tough on teams," Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said of Golden. "When we get to some of those third-down things where people are trying to mug us up, and we need someone to get open fast, he can do that."

Even if Golden doesn't provide that aspect right out of the box, he does provide the passing game with a vertical element that it lacked following Watson's injury. And unlike Watson, Golden enters the NFL as a fairly refined route runner for a rookie.

Given what the Packers' passing game needed entering the draft, it doesn't take much imagination to see the vision for Golden and how he fits into the larger picture.

The pick that raised your eyebrow the most was …

JBH: … Savion Williams.

Several factors come into play here. By the time the Packers handed in the card for Williams, they had already drafted a receiver. While it hardly seemed inconceivable that they would take multiple wideouts in the draft, grabbing two in the top 100 felt more shocking. Gutekunst even acknowledged as much during his Friday press conference.

"I didn't think I'd be up here talking about taking two receivers," the GM said. "But when he was up there, he was another one of our staff favorites across the board and so versatile, so many different things."

Williams does have an uncommonly diverse skill set for a 6-foot-4, 220-pound playmaker. At TCU, he saw action as a wideout, a running back, and even as a "wildcat" quarterback. The Frogs essentially did everything they could to feed him the ball.

"As they went through the season, they were just trying to find ways to get the ball in his hands," Gutekunst said of TCU's deployment of Williams. "They did a ton of wildcat stuff, and jet sweeps and different kinds of things. He was obviously one of their main playmakers this past year."

At the same time, Williams never fully developed in any one area. Most of his receptions in 2024 came near the line of scrimmage -- he had an average depth of target of 6.6 yards, less than half of Golden's mark on the season -- and the gadgetry grew out of necessity due to Williams' limitations. And despite possessing 4.48 speed at his size, he doesn't consistently stretch the field, at least not yet.

And Williams' arrival also raises second-order questions. Does the selection mean that Jayden Reed, the Packers' primary slot receiver and gadget player over the past two seasons, will see more work along the boundary in 2025? Given his similarities to Cordarrelle Patterson, can Williams become a returner at the next level?

Perhaps Williams will provide clear and positive answers to some or all of these questions, and he certainly has the talent to do so. But their existence as well as the context in which the Packers selected him made this the most eyebrow-raising pick of the bunch.

The pick that has the most untapped potential is …

JBH: … Collin Oliver.

One could reasonably argue either of the two aforementioned wideouts for this category and face little resistance. Golden has yet to turn 22 and looks more prepared to contribute to the Packers' passing game than any of their recent receiver draft picks. As for Williams, his physical upside and mold-breaking skill set offer multiple avenues to becoming a productive pro.

Even so, Oliver arrives in Green Bay with a greater discrepancy between his prospect profile and his potential. As a true freshman at Oklahoma State, he somehow managed to register 11.5 sacks. That figure led the Big 12 that season and helped earn him the conference's Defensive Freshman of the Year award.

Oliver remained productive over the ensuing two seasons and, with a big 2024 campaign, he reasonably could have expected to become a top-100 pick. However, injuries limited him to just two games last year, clouding his draft outlook.

As a 6-foot-2, 240-pound pass rusher, Oliver needed as many positive data points as possible.

"We talked a lot about just having guys like that that can chase the quarterback down. There's not a lot of guys in our league that win with pure speed on the edge," Gutekunst said over the weekend. But there are some guys that have really good get-off quickness. One thing that I'm always concerned about with guys if all they can do is rush the passer and they're that size, when you have injuries and they got to play more, they got to play more on first and second down, and they can put you in a spot."

Director of football operations Milt Hendrickson confirmed that Oliver will begin his NFL career at defensive end, effectively working as a designated pass rusher. However, the Packers envision him eventually spending time as an off-ball linebacker as well.

"I think with Collin's situation, he can actually stand up and play some linebacker too, can play some 'Sam' linebacker," Gutekunst said. "I think that versatility made us comfortable with it."

If Oliver can eventually bring some juice to the defensive front on obvious passing downs and provide some steady play as a stack linebacker on early downs, he could have a multiplying effect on the defense. Such a scenario would require considerable development, but that doesn't make it impossible.

Parting shot

JBH: Everybody loves the NFL's newly expanded rules for uniform numbers until they realize the consequences. As The Leap's resident curmudgeon, I've done my level best to warn people that, say, allowing linebackers to wear single digits would come at a horrible, horrible cost.

Well, guess what, kids? The Packers now have a first-round wideout -- their first such draft pick in more than two decades -- wearing No. 22!

Behold its hideousness. Embrace the repulsive aesthetic. This monstrosity is all yours!

Running backs wear 22. Defensive backs wear 22. Those position groups own this numerical territory.

Wide receivers don't, or at least they shouldn't. The wideouts wearing numbers in the 20s typically arrive at the back of the 90-man roster during training camp, not as first-round picks. Yes, Desmond Howard wore No. 22 during the 1996 preseason, but he switched to No. 81 at the first available opportunity. He refused to participate in such a charade, the exact kind of sound decision-making that helped him win Super Bowl MVP honors just a few months later.

As a football-watching society, we have a choice. We can either stand up for what is good and proper or we can allow the unprincipled ne'er-do-wells to degrade our institutions. What kind of future do you want? One where a player like Golden wears a real receiver number or one where it looks like the Packers just spent the No. 23 overall pick on Skyy Moore?

The latter is the future Peter wants, but we don't have to accept it.