The Green Bay Packers‘ second-year breakout wide receiver is listed as questionable with a shoulder and a foot injury for the team’s Week 8 game against the Carolina Panthers. However, NFL insider Ian Rapoport was told that Golden is trending towards playing less than 12 hours before kickoff.
“I am told he is trending towards playing,” reported Rapoport. “So there is a good chance for the Packers that Matthew Golden does get on the field today for Jordan Love and his teammates.”
As things stand, he should be ready for a full share of snaps. Rapoport made it clear that this was where things stood as of now. Golden still needed to get final send-off. However, after returning to practice in a limited capacity on Wednesday, the team appears to have seen enough to deem him ready. At the very least, they will wait until much closer to game time to determine his status.
Green Bay Packers WR Matthew Golden Trending Towards Playing Week 8
Golden had been healthy all season but popped on the injury report with a surprise shoulder and foot issue. The former first-round pick did not practice on Monday and Tuesday, causing concern about his status on a short week.
LaFleur said on Tuesday that the team was still working through things and they did not have status determined.
“I sure hope so,” said LaFleur. “We’re still kind of working through it.”
After he got a limited practice in on Wednesday, the team listed him as questionable for the game. As long as he shows up with no new issues, the Packers seem confident in playing him this week.
Packer Could Have Golden Against Panthers
Golden has been a breakout performer this year. He went in the first round last year, but joined a crowded wide receiver room and did not have the chance to progress as a rookie. After just 445 yards in his rookie season, including the playoffs, Golden has 540 yards already this season.
Including playoffs, Golden averaged 1.53 yards per route run. It went down to 1.3 without the playoff performance. However, this year Golden is averaging 2.15 yards per route run, which is excellent.
Without Golden, the Packers’ wide receiver room gets thin.
They already lost Jayden Reed for the rest of the season. His direct backup, Skyy Moore, is also injured. So, the team is leaning on second-year receiver Savion Williams as well as depth options Bo Melton and J.Michael Sturdivant.
Melton has five catches for 34 yards this season. Sturdivant has three catches for 22 yards. Meanwhile, Williams has only been healthy for two games this season. So, the room gets extremely thin if you take Golden out of it.
Golden will test things out before the game. However, barring a setback, the expectation around the NFL is that Golden will be in the lineup without any issues.
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