Matthew Golden NFL Draft 2025 profile: Full scouting report, pro comparison, future outlook and more

On the first day of August in 2003, just a little more than a month before the nearby Houston Texans would begin their second season in the NFL, Matthew Golden was born. 

Years later, Golden’s athleticism helped him have success in track and field — as a junior, he ran the 100-meter in 10.93 seconds and long-jumped 21 feet, 8.5 inches — but football was his game. And Golden dominated for Klein Cain High School, where in three seasons he totaled 3,242 receiving yards with 32 touchdown to go with 112 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 22 carries.

By the end of his sophomore year, his first year playing football for James Clancy’s Hurricanes, he had an offer from Tulsa. By the end of 2020, he had 10 more offers including one from his hometown Houston Cougars. Before the start of the 2021 season, Golden committed to TCU, but that was short-lived after the school parted ways with then-coach Gary Patterson.

Once Golden re-opened his recruitment, offers came in from big-time schools including Baylor, Texas, LSU and even Deion Sanders’ Jackson State Tigers. The offers didn’t slow down, especially with Golden helping Klein Cain get to the second round of the Texas 6A D-II playoffs.

But Golden opted to stay close to home and went to Houston to play for Dana Holgorsen and his Air Raid offense. He started immediately at the Z position and caught passes from current Cardinals backup Clayton Tune and played alongside receiver Tank Dell.

Two somewhat underwhelming seasons later, and after suffering a season-ending turf toe injury that required surgery, Golden entered the transfer portal and opted to spend the 2024 season at Texas. From there, he blossomed into one of the best wideouts in this draft class.

Matthew Golden NFL Draft profile

• Age as of Week 1: 23 years old
• Height: 5-foot-11
• Weight: 191 pounds
• Hand size: 9 ½
• 40-yard dash time: 4.29 seconds
• Comparable body-type to: Bo Melton

CBS prospect ranking

Position: No. 3 WR | Overall: No. 21

Consensus big board ranking (via NFL Mock Draft Database): No. 20 overall (No. 2 WR)

To check out all of CBSSports.com’s most recent mock drafts, click here.

NFL comparison: Santonio Holmes

Golden won’t be compared tough, physical receivers, but any averaged-sized smooth-operating wideout with speed could earn some comps. One such wideout was Santonio Holmes, who won with speed, quickness, agility and very good hands. It feels like a ceiling comp, but that’s what Golden could be, especially given his strong work ethic. 

Matthew Golden scouting report

Accolades

• 2024: Saved his best for the biggest moments, racking up 19 receptions for 411 yards and a touchdown in four “postseason” games (SEC title game against Georgia and three College Football Playoff games)
• 2024: Second-team All-SEC
• Provides versatility having totaled 722 return yards and a pair of kick return touchdowns during his collegiate career

Strengths

• Lined up across the formation and was utilized both in the slot and out wide, as well as in tight formations and spread, and even in each place in twins and trips groupings.
• Extremely impressive route tree, especially for a receiver with one year in a pro-style offense. And not only did Golden run every route imaginable (and some great combos), but he also would change his pace and tempo to help set up defensive backs when he kicked into a higher gear. His diverse routes and varied speed will be exciting for playcallers to go to the lab with. Playing at Texas helped give him more exposure to routes.
• Footwork was pretty good with potential for much more. Golden would use stutter-steps, jab-steps and sometimes pair them with shoulder-fakes to try and get a defensive back flat-footed or off-balance. These were his primary ways of trying to ditch coverage at the snap without speed or strength, and while they weren’t always successful, there’s enough evidence to believe he can add to his repertoire and become much more dangerous.
• Golden was a fluid, agile athlete who could suddenly change directions without wasted motion, especially on 90- or 180-degree routes. He’d get a step on in- and out-breaking routes along with multiple steps on hitch and comeback routes because he was often so quick to stop his feet and go in a different path. He seemed to get better at this at Texas.

• As part of his route-running technique, Golden had a knack for “peeling off” defenders with ease. So when he made actual contact, or when he needed to get away with a subtle push-off, Golden was great at separating from DBs, often in conjunction with his sudden change-of-direction. 
• Had mature, coordinated tracking and concentration skills to help with his receptions. Golden admitted in an interview after the College Football Playoff win over Arizona State that his game-tying touchdown in overtime was one he initially lost in the lights before quickly recognizing the ball and reacting quickly to bring it in. His deep-ball traits are helped by this.
• Consistently displayed good acceleration in his routes and good speed (maybe not 4.29 speed, but still good speed) to challenge defensive backs and was even more dangerous when he was used in motion and had a running start at the snap. He’s not going to leave dudes in the dust like Tyreek Hill, but he’ll win with speed against slower corners. A smart squad will line Golden up everywhere and get him moving when the play starts to fully maximize this talent.
• Big-time vertical skills were just another winning element of Golden’s athleticism. Would time his jumps in sync with his quarterback’s throws and show the outrageous ability to win on high throws, sometimes a good foot-plus over a defensive back.
• Often adjusted to off-target throws both with seamless body control and by gearing down his wheels to make the grab. Though his size didn’t afford him a big catch radius, whatever balls were in the vicinity of his wingspan were often brought in last season.
• Frequently extended his arms and snared passes away from his body and reeled in the ball to protect it. Golden had two fumbles at Houston (neither were turned over) and none at Texas. Additionally, there are examples of Golden making highlight-reel, one-handed grabs both at Texas and Houston.

• Has been a touchdown magnet since high school: Scored once every 6.1 catches over three years in college and once every 5.2 receptions in high school. That’s pretty cool.
• Viewed as a motivated, high-character, all-business individual. High school coach James Clancy said Golden was an “excellent student” with “an unbelievable heart” and is loyal to his family, friends and teammates. Then-teammate Tank Dell told the media before the 2022 season that Golden was “special.”
• Deserves credit for working on his craft and committing himself to improving. In an interview, he credited his coaches for helping him get acclimated to Texas’ pro-style offense after years in Houston’s Air Raid scheme, but he was the one who took initiative before he even played a down for the Longhorns (he did the same thing in Houston). Additionally, Golden made the extra effort to get his timing down with quarterback Quinn Ewers in one offseason. Golden said he committed himself to Ewers, telling him he had his back, and the two worked hard after practice getting in sync. It’s completely reasonable to expect Golden to continue making this kind of effort at the pro level, which NFL coaches will absolutely love.
• Returned kicks in high school and in college. 

Concerns

• Adequately sized player but not physically dominant in any way. Probably not much room, or frankly need, to bulk up, either.
• Quickness was least evident off the snap, but he almost never blew a defensive back away with pure speed. At best he had good burst when changing directions but rarely in his first one or two steps. A little disappointing considering how fast he is otherwise.
• Improved hands in 2024 but has a history with drops: Five over 56 targets in 2022, six over 63 targets in 2023 and technically four over 58 targets in 2024, but it’s a stretch to call two of them his fault (and only one was based on concentration). So while he got better with drops in 2024, the reality is that Golden had a 9.2% drop rate at Houston and a 7.4% drop rate for his career. None of the other top receivers in the 2025 class had a career drop rate higher than 5.1%.
• Aside from subtly pushing off from cornerbacks in his routes, Golden struggled with physicality. He was never really a dominant contested-catch winner and often lost out on catches because of aggressive jostling that receivers have to win against, be it because defenders disrupted his timing or broke up passes at the catch point. I would expect NFL defensive backs to get handsy with him.
• Golden had a 13.8% avoided tackle rate in 2024, tied for second-lowest among the top six WR prospects in the draft. But he did have a 23.7% avoided tackle rate at Houston, and his best year was his first year (26.3%) and not his second when his ADOT cratered.
• Definite weakness as a run blocker, complete with several lapses in execution and frequent unenthusiastic effort to even make contact much less block. He rarely attacked his defender and locked him up for the entirety of the play.  
• Despite being a lifetime touchdown magnet, Golden didn’t get his breakout moment until his third year, and even then it was seven games into the season when he started to get more playing time. Golden notched career bests in snaps played per game (55.1), yards per route run (2.51), yards per catch (19.0) and explosive play rate (35.1%!) in his final 10 college games. This was despite his target share remaining steady at about 19%. Before then, his bests over any season (or partial season in the case of 2024) were 46.7 snaps per game (2022), 1.81 yards per route run (first six of 2024), 15.4 yards per catch (2022) and a 23.2% explosive play rate (2022). An NFL team must be comfortable with Golden’s lack of extensive success and may find themselves tasked with trying to improve on his fundamentals.
• After overcoming a minor groin injury in October 2023, Golden suffered a turf toe injury in early November 2023 that required surgery and sidelined him for the rest of that season. He recovered and was fine until a high-ankle sprain knocked him out of Texas’ College Football Playoff game against Ohio State in January.

Bottom line

NFL coaches and execs might have real trouble deciding whether Golden’s last 10 games are indicative of what kind of player he is now, but there’s enough evidence to say Golden has improved his receiving skills, route-running and footwork while maintaining good speed, quickness and agility. He appears to be a high-character human with a hunger to be a stellar teammate. The real dilemma facing NFL decision-makers is whether or not Golden can be a true alpha receiver, or if he’s better suited as a No. 2 option. Golden’s lack of breaking tackles and winning against physical coverage does throw a wet blanket on his upside. That’s going to be tough for him to overcome and might keep him from being a big-time breakout right away, but there wouldn’t be much surprise if he’s competing to lead his team in targets by, say, November of 2026. 

What other draft experts say about Matthew Golden

Ryan Wilson: Explosive is the best one-word description for Golden, who reminded me a lot of Jordan Addison coming out of USC. He doesn’t have the biggest frame but consistently creates separation at the top of his route, has legit track speed (10.93 seconds in the 100-meter dash in high school) and also has return ability. His best football is ahead of him.

Mike Renner: Matthew Golden is a graceful route-runner who you can trust to run the full tree. Golden is versatile and ascending as a true junior coming out.

Matthew Golden college stats

Matthew Golden 247Sports profile

High school: Klein Cain (Houston)
Class: 2022
Composite Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (93)

• National: 150 | WR: 25 | Texas: 25

Check out Matthew Golden’s full 247Sports profile, here.

The 2025 NFL Draft is to take place from April 24-26 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. More draft coverage can be found at CBSSports.com, including the weekly mock drafts and a regularly available look at the eligible prospects.