Matthew Golden buys his grandma a home with the signing bonus on his rookie contract with the Packers.

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of stories like these. An athlete gets that first big payday and makes sure his parents/grandparents are taken care of, safe and secure. I did the same thing for my folks when I got my first big blogging paycheck when I took them to Chili’s for happy hour (they left the tip).

In all seriousness I am VERY excited to see what happens with Matthew Golden in his rookie season. We talked about it on the podcast a few episodes ago, but you just never know with a rookie wide receiver what the performance is going to look like. Is he going to burst onto the scene like Justin Jefferson and have an instant impact? Or is he going to be more like a Davante Adams who had all of us punching air during his first two seasons before a breakout in year three?

I’ll say this, by all accounts from the Green Bay media at practice every day, it sounds like he’s the real deal. Crisp route running, elite speed and hands, and based on the above video, clearly has his head on straight and is grounded. The Packers have had some nice rookie seasons from wide receivers in their past (James Lofton, Sterling Sharpe, Jayden Reed), but you have to go back to 1952 and Billy Howton to find a rookie wide out that had a 1,000 yard season in a Packer jersey. Could Golden be that type of player? With Watson out, Reed in a walking boot, and Doubs showcasing stone hands on Saturday night, they may need him to be.

PS: Billy Howton is a name lost in Packer lore, primarily because the team was a tire fire when he played in Green Bay (1952-1958). But take a look at his rookie season in 1952: 53 catches for 1,231 yards and 13 touchdowns. Mind you, that was in a TWELVE game schedule. Over 100 yards a game and a 23.2 yard per catch average. Nuts.