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According to Sports Illustrated’s Bill Huber, Green Bay Packers cornerback Nate Hobbs, who was unavailable for the team’s Family Night practice on Saturday, has had surgery on his knee. Prior to the surgery, Hobbs, who signed a four-year, $48 million contract in free agency, was expected to be a starting outside cornerback in two-cornerback looks and either an outside cornerback or slot cornerback in nickel sets for 2025.
Per Huber, Hobbs “could return in about three weeks,” which would be a timeline that matches up with around the beginning of the regular season. Either way, don’t expect to see much of Hobbs from now on through the end of the preseason.
In place of Hobbs, the likely replacement will be Carrington Valentine at outside cornerback and safety Javon Bullard at slot cornerback. On Family Night, Valentine played 20 of 22 outside cornerback snaps with the first-team defense, and Bullard played all 11 snaps where the first-team defense fielded a slot defender.
Hobbs’ injury might have also played a factor in the Packers bringing back cornerback Corey Ballentine. Ballentine signed a one-year deal with the Indianapolis Colts that paid him nearly half a million dollars in guarantees this year. He was released from the team last week and was re-signed by Green Bay, where he played in 37 games over three years, on Monday.
With the Las Vegas Raiders, Hobbs was healthy enough to play in 51 of the team’s 68 regular-season games from 2021 to 2024 — 75 percent of their total games.
Update: ESPN’s Rob Demovsky has added that the issue Hobbs had with his knee is a meniscus problem.
