Fantasy Football rankings debate: Matthew Golden vs. Emeka Egbuka in Dynasty rookie drafts

The 2025 NFL Draft has delivered us some talented rookies landing in key situations that impact your Fantasy Football season in 2025 and beyond. Depending on your Dynasty Fantasy Football league settings, you may have only a few days — or hours left to go before your rookie drafts. Some of you may already be on the clock in a slow draft and debating which rookie you want to select from the 2025 NFL Draft class. Some of these decisions are tougher than others and we’re going to start tackling a few of them here. Earlier, I did a deeper dive into some of the draft prospects selected on Day 3 of the NFL Draft who could serve as Dynasty gems later in your rookie drafts — you can find that here. Today, we’ll look at one of the toughest decisions a Fantasy Football manager has to make in the back end of the first round of his rookie draft — Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka or Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden.

Egbuka was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and landed in an interesting situation. The Buccaneers have stability at the quarterback position after re-signing Baker Mayfield and they have also received consistent production from that position over the last two seasons. Mayfield has been an efficient thrower of the football and has challenged the intermediate and vertical areas of the field. His ability to quickly diagnose combined with his quick release has led to some monster games for both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. His skill set as a passer should fit Egbuka’s ability to create separation and get open in the short and intermediate areas of the field. However, there is a bit of a logjam to start with Evans returning, Chris Godwin re-signed and 2024 rookie draft pick Jalen McMillan breaking out toward the end of his rookie season. 

Golden was drafted by the Packers who also have a bit of a logjam of talent at the wide receiver position. The Packers return all receivers from 2024, but Christian Watson will likely begin the season on the shelf after a late-season injury. Desperate for a No. 1 receiver to emerge, at least according to lead back Josh Jacobs, Golden has a — you guessed it — golden opportunity. However, it won’t be easy to crack the lineup right away and the Packers use a lot of 12 (and heavier) personnel packages to get multiple tight ends on the field. They also drafted another receiver, Savion Williams, in the third round.

In one of my Dynasty rookie drafts, I faced this exact decision — Golden or Ebuka — I could have also went with tight end Tyler Warren. I landed on Egbuka because of my situation. I didn’t need an immediate contributor and the league is a full-point PPR format. Egbuka’s upside from a reception standpoint won me over.

Dave Richard watched plenty of Egbuka on tape this past spring and wrote up a detailed scouting report you can find here. Dave compared his projection to PPR specialist Keenan Allen in his profile:

Egbuka is polished enough to contribute immediately for an NFL team and may evolve past being pigeon-holed as a slot receiver. But he doesn’t quite have the speed or overall physicality to be seen as a dominating alpha-type. He’s much more valuable as a savvy route technician and quality contributor, one who could easily earn eight targets per game in the right offense and be a quarterback’s best friend on money downs. Keenan Allen made a career out of that without flashing crazy speed or after-catch tackle-breaking prowess (and wasn’t a full-time slot guy, either). Egbuka is smaller than Allen, but his ceiling is right there. 

Egbuka finished No. 1 in Ohio State program history in receptions (205).

On the flip side, Golden has already made a strong impression at Packers minicamp. According to SI’s Albert Breer, “the Packers feel Matthew Golden’s “overall athleticism has already shown up” and they could make a veteran WR available “based on Golden’s development.”

If the Packers move on from a veteran receiver this summer, Golden’s case gets a lot stronger in the now and his Dynasty value also jumps with early playing time and target volume. Dave Richard did an extensive scouting profile on Golden you can find here and came away seeing similarities to Santonio Holmes: 

Golden won’t be compared to tough, physical receivers, but any averaged-sized smooth-operating wideout with speed could earn some comps. One such wideout was Santonio Holmes, who won with speed, quickness, agility, and very good hands. It feels like a ceiling comp, but that’s what Golden could be, especially given his strong work ethic. 

Golden was the fastest and quickest tested wide receiver from this draft class with 4.29 speed and an absurdly quick 1.47 10-yard split. He was also adept at scoring at the collegiate level with nine touchdowns in his final season at Texas in spite of spotty quarterback play. While most expect Golden to be a big-play vertical threat for Green Bay similar to Watson, his profile fits better in the intermediate range of the field on in and out-breakers — this is the area of the field where Jordan Love is most successful and consistent. He could emerge as a No. 1 weapon for the Packers as early as 2025 and if you’re looking for upside, swing on Golden over Egbuka.