Matthew Golden is taking over Romeo Doubs' job in Green Bay

Green Bay let Romeo Doubs walk in free agency this offseason, and the Patriots scooped him up on a 4-year deal worth up to $80 million. That left a real hole in the Packers' passing game, since Doubs led the team in targets and set a career high in receiving yards last season. Nobody in Green Bay seems worried about it, though, because the guy replacing him has been the story of camp.

That's about as direct a hand-off as it gets. Golden was Green Bay's first-round pick in 2025, the first receiver they'd taken in the opening round since 2002, and the Packers didn't spend a single 2026 draft pick on the position — a pretty clear sign they trusted him to be ready for exactly this. Now he's not just replacing a departed vet, he's doing it with the starting quarterback publicly running point on the transition.

Love isn't the only voice hyping him up. Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich has been singing the same tune about Golden's route running, and it's the kind of detail-oriented praise that tends to matter more than highlight-reel catches this time of year.

Love went even further, describing Golden as hungry since the moment he arrived and someone who's stayed patient waiting for his turn to make plays. That patience angle lines up with what beat reporters are seeing on the field: not big shot plays down the field, but a steady diet of 8-yard and 10-yard grabs, a lot of them coming on third down — the unsexy, high-value work that makes a quarterback trust a guy.

None of this is happening in a vacuum, either. Fantasy analysts have started circling Golden as a buy-low sleeper, and there's chatter that fellow second-year receiver Savion Williams isn't getting the first-team reps some expected, which only reinforces where the pecking order is heading. Golden currently projects as Green Bay's third-most-targeted option behind Christian Watson and Tucker Kraft, but the way camp is trending, that number could climb fast.

It's still August, and camp buzz has a way of overselling players who never quite translate it to Sundays. But when the quarterback and the play-caller are both pointing at the same guy for the same reasons — detail, patience, reliability — that's usually more signal than noise. Doubs' name isn't walking back through that locker room door. Golden's job now is to make sure nobody misses him.