Buy Matthew Golden now, because the drops are the only discount you'll ever get cover
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Buy Matthew Golden now, because the drops are the only discount you'll ever get

Matthew Golden dropped passes Thursday and still drew a team-high 13 targets in Green Bay's 27-19 win over Carolina. Vic Castellano says RSO managers should buy him before his owner forgets about the drops.

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  • Buy Matthew Golden today, while the manager who owns him is still yelling at the replay. Thursday night was the ugliest good game a receiver can have, and ugly is the only time anybody in your league sells at a discount.

    Here's the ugly part, and I won't pretend it isn't real. NFL.com said Golden battled another case of the drops, and "another" is the word that should worry you. He dropped a potential touchdown in the second quarter. Early in the fourth quarter Jordan Love threw for him in the end zone and Zakee Wheatley picked it off. He also missed practice Monday and Tuesday with shoulder and foot injuries and went into the game questionable. If you want reasons to stay away, he handed you a pile of them.

    Now look at what the Packers did with all that. Golden drew a team-high 13 targets, per the ESPN box score, and caught 7 for 79 yards. One play after the drop, on third-and-13, Love went right back to him for a 24-yard touchdown in the left corner of the end zone, the AP reported. That's the part I care about. Coaches bench guys who can't be trusted. They don't call their number 13 times, and their quarterback doesn't come back to them on the very next snap in a three-point game.

    The counterargument is Christian Watson, and it's a good one. Watson caught the 53-yard ball that flipped the game, he finished with 8 catches for 113 yards, and he came into the night leading this team in receiving. Fine. Watson also said he broke a rib on that 53-yard catch, and Green Bay hasn't announced anything about his status. I'm not telling you he misses time, because nobody knows that yet. I'm telling you that if he does, those targets have to land somewhere, and Golden's already the guy getting the most of them.

    The calendar helps you, too. Green Bay doesn't play again until Nov. 8 at New England. That's ten days where nothing happens except Watson news, and every bit of it either keeps Golden's price where it is or pushes it up. The only version of this where he gets cheaper is one where the Packers decide to stop throwing to him, and they just showed you they won't.

    Check what's left on his contract in your league. If he's still on the deal he came in on, you're buying cheap control on a receiver who just led a 5-3 team in targets, and that's exactly the kind of guy contenders forget about until it's too late. If the drops keep coming, I'll have told you to pay for a guy who can't hold the ball, and you can remind me. I'd still rather overpay a little for 13 targets than pay full price for the same player in three weeks. Make the offer now, while the owner is still mad.

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