The numbers for Matthew Golden in Sunday night's tie at Dallas would seem to indicate he's continuing his upward trend. Golden caught a season-high five balls on a season-high six targets, collecting 58 yards (most of that on a 46-yard catch on the third play of the game). But a boost in team volume helped pad those numbers and hide a bad signal for his playing time.
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Here's how Golden's total snap shares have gone the first four weeks:
Sunday night's snapback also pushed him behind WR Dontayvion Wicks, third among Green Bay WRs. Golden trailed Wicks by 15 total snaps. But he ran just three fewer routes than his veteran teammate (37-34).
Golden also saw a lot more time in the slot than in previous weeks. Here are the weekly shares of his pass snaps that Golden has run from the slot, by Pro Football Focus numbers:
If the Packers plan to keep working Golden inside more, then we might see more positive target shares. The rookie did beat Wicks 6-4 in that category and rank second on the team.
A Week 5 bye gives time for us to potentially learn more about the plan for Golden the rest of the way.
He's not likely to land inside our top 40 WRs for a Week 6 return against the Bengals. But we'll see if HC Matt LaFleur says anything to change that.