NFL Coach: Matthew Golden Better Than Xavier Worthy, 'Best Route Runner' in 2025 Draft

Matthew Golden impressed with his blazing speed at the NFL Scouting Combine, but one NFL coach believes his game is about more than just running fast.

In fact, that coach believes the 21-year-old is better than last year's notable wide receiver out of Texas in Xavier Worthy.

"He's razor-sharp getting in and out of his cuts and he plays a lot bigger than his size," the coach told Bruce Feldman of The Athletic. "I like him more than their two WRs last year (Xavier Worthy and AD Mitchell). He's the best route-runner in this draft. He looks like one of those Ohio State (receiver) products."

While one of those "Ohio State products" is available in this year's draft in Emeka Egbuka, he could go earlier than Golden. And that means the Longhorns star has the chance to be an under-the-radar steal for a team looking for wide receiver depth, although he is much more on the radar after his display at the combine.

After all, Golden ran a 4.29-second 40-yard dash, which wasn't far behind Worthy's blistering 4.21-second time ahead of the 2024 draft.

Worthy is quite the comparison point, as the Kansas City Chiefs selected him in the first round and immediately threw him into the offense. He ended up second on the team behind only tight end Travis Kelce with 638 receiving yards and helped the Chiefs reach the Super Bowl.

Those are big shoes to fill for Golden if that is the expectation.

B/R's NFL Scouting Department is high on the Texas product and ranked him as the third-best wide receiver in its most recent big board of prospects. And Tankathon projected him to go in the middle of the second round in its latest mock draft, which placed him behind first-rounders in Tetairoa McMillan, Luther Burden III and Egbuka. 

Perhaps some team will get a steal with a wide receiver who at least one coach believes could be better than Worthy.