Acme Packing Company
Golden signed a deal that will make him Green Bay’s highest-paid receiver in 2025
ESPN’s Adam Schefter has reported that the Green Bay Packers have come to terms with their first-round pick of the 2025 draft: wide receiver Matthew Golden of Texas. According to Schefter, Golden signed a four-year, fully guaranteed contract worth $17.58 million. The full guarantees shouldn’t have been a surprise, considering that second-round picks in the draft are now receiving fully guaranteed contracts now.
While sometimes agents and teams haggle over the specifics of rookie deals, like whether money will be offset if a player is released and ends up signing with another NFL club, this never appeared to be an issue with Golden, the 23rd overall pick of the draft. Golden was a participant in the Packers’ rookie minicamp last month, unlike the Cincinnati Bengals pass-rusher Shemar Stewart, whom the Bengals did not provide injury guarantees to before he was to sign. That is a rarity in today’s NFL, one reason why Stewart’s representation likely told him to sit out the rookie minicamp entirely.
With an average salary of $4.39 million per year, Golden is now the Packers’ highest-paid wide receiver. Much of that money will come in the form of a signing bonus, too, so it shouldn’t be surprising if he’ll have made more money from Green Bay before he steps on the field for a regular season game than any of Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs or Dontayvion Wicks have made in their entire professional careers.
