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It’s pretty clear at this point that the Green Bay Packers will let their outside cornerback battle continue until a clear victor has been named. After the Pittsburgh Steelers game, head coach Matt LaFleur said that the team will consider all options, including moving Keisean Nixon out of a full-time role. While we haven’t seen that yet this season, the team is letting Carrington Valentine and Nate Hobbs duke it out across the formation from Nixon.
So how is every doing? Let’s take a look at NFL Pro’s numbers.
In the 2025 regular season, 62 cornerbacks have played at least as many outside cornerback coverage snaps as the Packers’ trio. For the purposes of this article, we’re going to call that group of 62 the “qualifying” cornerbacks.
Among qualifying cornerbacks, the average yards allowed per coverage snap is 1.04 per play. This is probably the most consistent cornerback number that you’ll find, as many grades are heavily influenced by interceptions and pass breakups — which, while impactful, are not correlated strongly on a game-to-game basis.
Here’s how the Packers’ cornerback trio fares in yards per coverage snap allowed:
Based on the league average among qualifiers, this is how much these cornerbacks have been worth above the average cornerback:
So based on the raw stats, Nixon has been slightly above average, Valentine has been slightly below average and Hobbs has sort of split the difference between an average cornerback and a bottom-end cornerback this season.
What this stat doesn’t take into account, though, is penalties. That’s a massive X Factor.
For example, Nixon has been flagged 10 times, the most in the league. 7 of those have been accepted, the second-most in the league, for 52 yards, the 14th-most yards in the league. For what it’s worth, Nixon’s penalties this year have been four defensive pass interferences, two illegal contacts and one of each of the following: illegal use of hands, defensive offsides, defensive holding and a face mask.
Meanwhile, Hobbs has been flagged for defensive holding three times, twice of which were accepted, for 10 yards. Valenine has only given up one penalty yard all year, a DPI on the first two-point conversion attempt against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week.
So while Nixon is slightly above average, statistically, he’s also getting hammered by penalties. And while Valentine is slightly below average, he’s not drawing any flags. Keep that in mind moving forward.
