After the Green Bay Packers took Matthew Golden in last year’s draft, the first time they’ve used their first pick on a receiver since 2002, it seems impossible that they would do it again.
On paper, it might not sound like the best use of resources for a Packers team that is going to be tight against the cap and lacking a first-round pick for not only this year’s draft but also the next. They have some pretty big roster holes to fill at cornerback, defensive line, and offensive line, and they might lose starting linebacker Quay Walker.
However, when you stop and think about it, the idea of the team adding another weapon on the outside isn’t as crazy as it might seem. In fact, there’s reason to believe that they’ll do it.
Green Bay has four primary receivers: Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, and Matthew Golden. Their 2025 third-round pick, Savion Williams, will also be a factor, but he’s coming off a foot injury that ended his season prematurely.
Jakobie Keeney-James, Will Sheppard, and Isaiah Neyor are also under contract and will provide competitive depth throughout the offseason program. Still, I wouldn’t really consider them much of a threat to make the roster in 2026. That leaves Romeo Doubs and Bo Melton as the two contributors from 2025 who are without a contract.
Melton, the receiver-turned-cornerback-turned-receiver again, is an exclusive-rights free agent. As I wrote before, the Packers bringing him back makes too much sense. They love his versatility, and he will be cheap. As much as I’m sure the Packers and Doubs would like to remain together, the reality is that he is going to get much more on the open market than the Packers can offer. With Doubs out the door, the Packers are looking at having to replace their leading receiver in terms of snaps (780) and targets (85) from 2025.
Of course, having Watson fully healthy and ready to start the season would help with that. The Packers were forced to rely on Doubs much more in the early part of the season with Watson and then Reed out with injuries. But that right there is the primary reason the Packers might consider taking a wide receiver early in the draft.
When Reed went down in Week 2 with a collarbone injury, it left the wide receiver room thin. Doubs, Golden, Wicks, Savion Williams, and a reconverted Melton were manning the position, and that forced Golden and Williams into more snaps than I’m sure the Packers would have wanted immediately. The Packers prefer to ease rookies into action rather than throwing them into full-time roles. We saw Golden start to come along toward the end of the year, but he struggled in the first few games. Increased expectations surely didn’t help.
If the Packers feel comfortable entering the season with a starting four of Watson, Reed, Wicks, and Golden, with Williams off the bench, then that’s great — but one or two injuries could meaningfully cut into their depth. You can’t predict injuries, but it’s not like all five of them have been the picture of health either. Everyone knows about Watson’s injury history.
Reed missed most of last season with a collarbone injury and had a foot injury to start the season on top of it. Wicks dealt with multiple issues throughout 2025, including a calf strain and an ankle sprain, which caused him to miss time or play limited snaps. He missed the final two games on top of that with a concussion. Golden missed a few games with a shoulder injury, and Williams ended his rookie year on IR. Not making any additions would be placing a lot of faith in the group staying healthy, when none of them have thus far.
Add in that Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks are entering the final year of their contracts, respectively, and things get interesting. We haven’t received word yet that the team has started — or is interested in — contract extensions. It seems their focus is on extending Tucker Kraft first, then probably Watson.
Green Bay gave Watson a one-year stopgap extension to see how he recovered from his injury, but he’s a part of this team’s core and long-term future. Maybe once they agree to an extension with him, the Packers will start on Reed or Wicks. Still, even if they do, it won’t be both. Will they want to put big money into Watson and Reed or Wicks? If they don’t, they will enter next season with just Watson, Golden, and Williams under contract.
One thing about the Packers is that they tell us what they plan to do with their roster before they do it. They love to draft players at positions a year before they have to, so they don’t feel pigeonholed into re-signing a player.
They did it with A.J. Dillon and Jamal Williams. Williams was entering the final year of his contract, so they selected Dillon in the second round as his eventual replacement because they didn’t want two backs taking up cap space with Aaron Jones also on the roster. They have done it many times along the offensive line. They also drafted Jordan Morgan to be the future at left tackle if they move on from Rasheed Walker.
If the team doesn’t want to feel like they need to re-sign Reed or Wicks, and want to add high-end competition to the room while not feeling forced into taking a receiver early next year, then it might not be a bad idea to add one early this year. They can then stick to their best-player-available approach in next year’s draft and allow Reed and Wicks to walk while investing dollars in whatever position requires it.
After all, taking players before you need them tends to work out well in Green Bay. Just ask Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love.
