There’s always a difference between what a general manager says and what he really thinks. That’s basically part of his job description. Right after picking Matthew Golden in the first round of the draft three months ago, the first wide receiver selected in the first round by the Green Bay Packers since 2002, Brian Gutekunst said the team didn’t need to add players to the room.
“I really didn’t think we needed to at all,” he affirmed.
Well, they did. First, because the wide receiver group was extremely disappointing in 2024, leading (in a bad sense) the NFL in mistakes. Second, because only Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks had contracts beyond 2025. Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Mecole Hardman, and Malik Heath are all in contract seasons in 2025.
“Certainly it’s nice when you add as much talent and competition to that room as we can,” Gutekunst added. “I felt really good about our room prior, and if we would’ve gone in a different direction, I would’ve had no problem doing that. We had a couple guys on the board that we really, really liked, and he won us over. Not only because of his play on the field, but who [Matthew Golden] was.”
This is another article in our positional breakdown series for the Packers ahead of the 2025 season.
Why the Packers added to the WR room
With Golden, and third-round pick Savion Williams to a lesser extent, the Packers are trying to create an offensive domino effect. If the first-rounder established himself as a de facto WR1, it allowed Reed to be a productive WR2 in the slot, Doubs can be a role WR3 in the X, Wicks is a good separator coming from the bench, and Watson can be an explosive deep threat as soon as he returns from injury.
It’s not a given that everything will happen from the jump, but that’s why they took a polished receiver in the first round. Even though Golden is smaller, the team perceives an ability to play outside, which makes it viable for the Packers to use Golden and Reed on the field at the same time.
“Versatility is always great,” Gutekunst mentioned. “With the way Matt (LaFleur) and his staff are able to be creative and use these guys, that gives me a lot of flexibility with what I’m looking at too. They do such a good job of scheming some of these guys up, and using them to their best ability. It does make it easier for me. So we don’t feel like we have to do this, or we have to do that, Matt and his staff will find a way to make these guys productive and fit them into what they’re trying to do. The guys on our offensive staff are pretty fired up right now.”
Depth chart expectations
Besides Golden and Williams and barring a trade, Doubs, Reed, and Wicks are locks to make the 53-man roster and will be an important part of the rotation. Watson is in a more complicated situation, because he tore his ACL on January 5. Presumably, he will start the regular season on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, missing at least four games—that means he doesn’t count towards the 53-man roster early on.
Usually, teams keep something between five and seven wide receivers on the team. Therefore, the other six receivers will battle for one, maybe two roster spots, plus two or three at most on the practice squad.
The frontrunners are Mecole Hardman, the only veteran addition to the group, and holdover Malik Heath. Bo Melton, who added more value to his profile practicing at cornerback during the offseason program, was moved to the defense for the training camp but could play some offense as well.
The other names on the 90-man roster are Julian Hicks and Cornelius Johnson, who spent most of last season on the PS, and undrafted rookie Samuel Brown. Right before camp, the Packers also added rookie Will Sheppard.
After three years without a real WR1, and saying out loud they didn’t need one, the Packers felt the need to make it happen after seeing how last season shook out. It’s good to have multiple and versatile pieces, but it’s better when their roles are not bigger than their abilities.
