Matthew Golden Camp Update — August 23: A Twenty-Yard Catch on Fourth Down

Matthew Golden's week ran from a practice award to a live fourth-down conversion. On Tuesday he was Bill Huber's player of the day at Packers On SI, with Jordan Love volunteering the endorsement: "He did a lot of good things... he figured out and went back and watched the film... now he's putting it all together right now." On Friday in Denver he worked with the first group and caught a 20-yard pass on fourth-and-one during Love's touchdown drive, per Rob Reischel at Forbes — his first attributable game production of the preseason, after last week's coverage left even his participation unconfirmed. The honest counterweight from the week: in Wednesday's practice, rookie corner Brandon Cisse broke up a pass intended for him, per Huber.

The context in the receiver room kept shifting around him. Jayden Reed sat the Denver game, per Reischel; Christian Watson played and caught a 15-yard slant on the same opening drive, per Wes Hodkiewicz and Mike Spofford at the team's website. Golden getting first-group snaps and a fourth-down target with both of those veterans at various stages of ramp-up is exactly the usage his case requires.

Our June preview called Golden a bet on the job rather than the rookie tape, and the job has now come through a toe injury with its first game production attached — a conversion on a down where the quarterback had one throw to make and chose him. Still unobserved: target volume in a real game plan. Watch next whether Golden starts alongside Reed and Watson in the preseason finale if the starters play, and where his snaps line up — outside or in the slot — once the roster cuts to 53 on Sunday, August 30. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._