He played college football for the Missouri Tigers and was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the second round of the 2015 NFL draft.

A previous hand injury also made him unable to do the bench press and he finished 19th among his position group in the 40-yard dash.

[4] On March 19, 2015, Golden opted to attend Missouri's pro day, along with Shane Ray, Marcus Murphy, Bud Sasser, Mitch Morse, and nine other prospects.

[5] At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Golden was projected by NFL draft experts and scouts to be a third to fifth round pick.

[13] Throughout training camp, Golden competed against Alex Okafor, Lorenzo Alexander, LaMarr Woodley, Shaquille Riddick, and Alani Fua for a job as the starting outside linebacker.

[14] Head coach Bruce Arians named Golden the backup strongside linebacker behind LaMarr Woodley to begin the regular season.

[15] He made his professional regular season debut in the Cardinals' season-opener against the New Orleans Saints and recorded three combined tackles during their 31–19 victory.

He made his first career sack with Kareem Martin as they both brought down Chicago Bears' quarterback Jimmy Clausen for a ten-yard loss in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.

[20] The Cardinals finished the 2015 season atop the National Football Conference (NFC) West with a 13–3 record and received a playoff berth.

[22] He was named the starting weakside linebacker to begin the regular season, opposite newly acquired teammate Chandler Jones.

[24] In Week 3, he made his first official start of the season and collected six combined tackles and 1 sack on Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor during a 33–18 loss.

[25] On October 6, 2016, Golden recorded a career-high ten combined tackles (seven solo) and made two sacks on Blaine Gabbert as the Cardinals defeated the San Francisco 49ers 33–21.

On January 1, 2017, he made four combined tackles, deflected a pass, and a season-high 2.5 sacks on Jared Goff, as the Cardinals routed the Los Angeles Rams 44–6.

Golden finished the season with 51 combined tackles, 12.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, and a pass deflection in 16 games and three starts.

On October 1, 2017, Golden collected three solo tackles before leaving the game due to injury as the Cardinals defeated the 49ers 18–15.

[32] In week 6 against the Patriots, Golden recovered a fumble forced by teammate Lorenzo Carter on Tom Brady and returned the ball for a 42 yard touchdown in the 35–14 loss.

[36] In Week 7 against the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday Night Football on October 22, 2020, Golden recorded his first sack of the season on Carson Wentz during the 22–21 loss.

[40] In Week 14 against his former team, the Giants, Golden recorded a strip sack on Daniel Jones that he also recovered during the 26–7 victory.