The 2025 NFL Draft took place over the past week at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Even though it was held in the leagues smallest market, it was anything but small. From the size of the crowd to some big picks, the event did not disappoint at all. The Packers also delivered in the draft, starting by breaking the drought of drafting a first round wide receiver since 2002. Us writers for the sports section in the Advance-Titan reacted to how the packers top five picks went and overall.
Round 1 Pick: Matthew Golden
The Packers broke the long first- round receiver drought in maybe the right time possible. To the delight of the hundreds of Packers fans at Lambeau and around the globe, the Packers drafted wide receiver Matthew Golden from the University of Texas for its first round pick. Golden caught a total of 58 passes, totaling for 987 yards with nine touchdowns. Golden is also a big play maker, one of his most notable plays happened in the 2025 Peach Bowl on Jan 1 when on 4th and 13 and down by seven in overtime, Golden hauled in a game tying touchdown on Texas’ last breath to send it to an extra overtime attempt. The Longhorns ended up beating Arizona State to advance in the College Football Playoff. One of our writers who was there said the crowd knew the magnitude of the pick. “There wasn’t a better time to break the streak and draft a WR in the first round with it being held in Green Bay,” he said. “I only heard a louder reaction when the Brewers hit back to back home runs in game three of the MLB Wild Card Series.” The pick of Golden also gives quarterback Jordan Love another weapon to throw to in a young receiving core.
Round 2 pick: Anthony Belton
Anthony Belton is an offensive tackle from North Carolina State. To us, the pick seemed weird at first but then realizing that more depth on an injury-prone offensive line is needed. “ I thought this pick was weird in the sense of what the purpose of the Jordan Morgan pick was last season,” one writer said. “But having a massive tackle who can help with our powerful run game is really exciting to see if it works out.”
Round 3 pick: Savion Willams
One of the most versatile players in this draft, Savion Williams has high potential with this team. With his time in TCU last season, Williams was used not only as a receiver, but as a running back and a wildcat QB. The pick of Williams has us excited about his potential with the scheme the Packers run. “(Williams) is another gadget receiver for Love, he can make our offense even more predictable with Matt LaFleur’s play-making ability,” a writer said. Williams does have an issue with dropping passes, and that also plagued the Packers last season but hopefully with a long offseason still to go it can get figured out.
Round 4 pick: Barryn Sorrell
Out of all the draftees that made the trip to Green Bay, Sorrell was maybe the one that had to wait the longest. Lucky for the edge rusher from Texas, he didn’t need to wait super long to hear his name called on the final day of the draft. In fact he came out to the delight of the home crowd that stuck around for the third day. At the Advance Titan, we’re ready to see the potential that he has with the Packers. “Credited for his power by many draft analysts, he may be able to carve out a role early in his career at training camp this summer,” a writer said.
Round 5 pick: Collin Oliver
The NFL Combine’s second fastest edge rusher is a Green Bay Packer, despite some concerns with his size. The Edge rusher from Oklahoma State has big play ability. Oliver had an injury last season that derailed his 2024, but in 2023 he had a great season where he recorded 73 total tackles with 49 solo tackles. “Every time I turned on an Oklahoma State game the last few seasons, I always heard Oliver’s name be mentioned on a defensive play for OSU so hopefully that carries over to the NFL,” a writer said.
Thoughts on draft experience
With the draft being in Green Bay and so close to the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, it allowed a lot of UWO students, including us sports writers, to go to the draft. The common thought with everyone is that Green Bay did a great job. “To see Green Bay matter so much to the world was something I’d never thought I would see in my lifetime,” a writer said. Day one of the NFL Draft alone, 200,000 people showed up, shattering the entire population of Green Bay by 100,000. In fact on the first day, officials had to halt letting people in because the draft campus reached capacity so Lambeau Field had to be used so people could still watch the draft.
