Packer Central

Packers Start with Receiver in First Round of NFL.com Mock Draft

In Chad Reuter’s latest mock draft, the Green Bay Packers addressed key needs at receiver, pass rusher and cornerback in the first three rounds.

Bill Huber

Tennessee defensive lineman Omarr Norman-Lott at the Scouting Combine.
Tennessee defensive lineman Omarr Norman-Lott at the Scouting Combine. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Without Christian Watson’s field-stretching ability down the stretch of last season, the Green Bay Packers’ stumbled to a three-game losing streak.

The need for speed was addressed in Chad Reuter’s four-round mock draft at NFL.com, with Reuter sending the fastest receiver in the draft class, Matthew Golden, to the Packers at No. 23.

“The Mecole Hardman signing will help the Packers make up for the loss of Christian Watson as he recovers from a January knee injury,” Reuter wrote, “but the team still requires long-term help at the position. Golden's speed and ability to win contested catches make him a legitimate downfield playmaker.”

Golden caught 58 passes for 987 yards and nine touchdowns in 2024, when he boasted a 17.0-yard average. He caught 13 passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield with four drops, according to PFF.

Golden is much more than just a fast receiver. In his pre-Scouting Combine conference call, NFL Network draft expert Daniel Jeremiah said this of Golden and Emeka Ogbuka:

“I’ve become kind of obsessed with receivers with the thought and keeping an eye out for guys who are grounded through the catch, guys who really trust their hands and run through the ball,” Jeremiah said.

“I just put more importance on that. You just see the really great receivers in the NFL have that trait, that quality, that confidence in their hands and allows them to do so much after the catch as well. Both those guys are grounded through the catch, tough, smart, instinctive players.”

Golden was the third of four receivers off the board in the first round. The Eagles traded up for a pass-rushing defensive tackle at No. 26. Georgia defensive end Mykel Williams, Texas A&M defensive end Shemar Stewart and Arizona receiver Tetairoa McMillan went before Green Bay was on the clock; Stewart and McMillan had predraft visits with the Packers

In the second round, the Packers took a pass rusher with Texas A&M’s Nic Scourton. At Purdue in 2023, he led the Big Ten with 10 sacks, and he had 29 tackles for losses in 2023 and 2024.

NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein compared him to Trey Hendrickson, who led the NFL in sacks in 2024.

“He’s an eclectic rusher with a mature rush plan and rarely shows opponents the same look on consecutive plays,” Zierlein wrote as part of a much larger scouting report. “He won’t outrace or bulldoze tackles, but he utilizes tempo alterations and a bag full of moves and counters.”

Scourton, who fits Green Bay’s big-guy mold, was the choice over Tennessee pass rusher James Pearce, who had a predraft visit with the Packers. He landed with one of Green Bay’s rivals.

With cornerbacks Maxwell Hairston, Trey Amos and Shavon Revel off the board before Green Bay was up in the second round, it grabbed Cal star Nohl Williams in the third round.

Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley likes playmakers in the secondary, and Williams was one of the best in the country last season with an FBS-leading seven interceptions. He gave up a completion rate of 47.5 percent, according to PFF.

Williams has good size at 6-foot but subpar athleticism (4.50 in the 40).

In the fourth round, Reuter struck again with a playmaking defensive lineman. Tennessee defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott is an interesting prospect. In 13 games in 2024, he played just 224 snaps. But his pass-rush win rate was elite. He had 9.5 sacks in two seasons with the Vols after opening his career at Arizona State.

“He is kind of funky in that he has a unique rush as someone in there who he will use a Euro step at times, he can cross your face,” Jeremiah said in his conference call. “I didn’t think he was ultra, ultra dynamic, but he just has a lot of ways to kind of win in there.”

Reuter failed to help the offensive line but he hit on the Packers’ other big needs.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.