Everyone knows that. The Green Bay Packers haven’t drafted a wide receiver in the first round since 2002, when head coach Mike Sherman selected Javon Walker with the 20th overall pick. But that doesn’t mean it will never happen, and two important NFL insiders shared that it’s a real possibility for 2025.
In his only mock draft of the process, insider and analyst Peter Schrager projected the Packers to take Matthew Golden with the 23rd overall pick—Tet McMillan and Emeka Egbuka were already off the board in his exercise.
“I know it’s out of character for Green Bay to take a receiver in Round 1 — they haven’t done it since 2002 — but in this scenario, Golden could slide right to them. And I can’t see him sliding much more. Green Bay could go in several directions. I doubt anyone thought the Packers could get the consensus top wideout on many boards, though.” — Peter Schrager.
Meanwhile, insider Adam Schefter had a podcast with quick informed intel and nuggets about every NFL team. When it was time to talk about the Packers, wide receivers were where he went as well.
“Do you remember the last time the Green Bay Packers drafted a wide receiver in the first round of the draft? Twenty-three years ago. Javon Walker from Florida State. The last time. Maybe that streak comes to an end.” — Adam Schefter.
This class is different from the previous one because there is a bigger dropoff at wide receiver than it has been the normal. General manager Brian Gutekunst explained that taking a first-round receiver is not against the franchise’s scouting and process rules.
“It’s funny, it’s not a philosophical thing we’ve talked about through my time in Green Bay, which goes back quite a while,” Gutekunst said at the NFL Combine. “It’s never something like ‘Hey, we don’t want to take wide receivers in the first round’ or certain opportunities we’ve had, we thought that was gonna happen and for whatever reason it didn’t.”
The Packers have only two wide receivers, Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks, under contract beyond 2025. Besides that, Christian Watson is expected to miss significant time in the regular season because of his knee injury, making the need to add pass-catchers more urgent.
