ClutchPoints
The Green Bay Packers are no longer a team rebuilding around a young quarterback. They’re hunting hardware. They snuck into the postseason in 2024 and gave the 49ers a scare in the Wild Card round. Now, the Packers enter the 2025 NFL season with higher expectations. That also comes with far less margin for error. Jordan Love’s breakout campaign erased any doubts about his future under center, and head coach Matt LaFleur has returned with one of the most complete offensive units in the NFC. However, for all their growth and momentum, there’s a looming concern that could unravel it all.
As the pads come on and the battles begin in training camp, one flaw stands out like a blown coverage on third down: the cornerback room.
Do the Packers finally have a Super Bowl-caliber roster? General manager Brian Gutekunst seems to believe they do. His offseason moves backed that up with quiet conviction rather than headline-grabbing splashes. He reinforced the interior offensive line with veteran guard Aaron Banks and added versatile corner Nate Hobbs to help stabilize a reshuffled secondary. They also used a rare first-round pick on wide receiver Matthew Golden out of Houston. That gives Love a potential long-term WR2 alongside Christian Watson.
Still, Gutekunst has made it clear that the team wasn’t about flashy moves. He emphasized that they about chasing stars. Their moves were all about chasing championships.
Of course, results don’t come without talent at key positions. And in today’s NFL, few positions are more important or more exposed than cornerback.
Here’s the brutal truth about Green Bay’s cornerback room. It is, at best, unproven. At worst, it is dangerously thin. The departure of Jaire Alexander, once the heart of the Packers’ pass defense, was a bombshell. That’s even if it felt inevitable after a prolonged contract standoff. Eric Stokes, another former first-rounder, followed him out the door. What’s left is a mix of high-risk projections and raw youth.
Hobbs, of course, was the team’s biggest free-agent addition at the position. He is penciled in as a starter, but he’s missed 13 games over the past two seasons due to injuries. He has also bounced between nickel and outside roles. Keisean Nixon, a standout returner, now enters camp as the team’s No. 1 corner. That says less about Nixon’s ceiling and more about how little Green Bay has to work with.
Carrington Valentine flashed potential in limited snaps last year. He has impressed in offseason workouts, but cornerback is a position known for volatility from year to year. Then there’s seventh-round rookie Micah Robinson. He is a long, athletic prospect with upside. That said, he didn’t face top-tier competition in college and will now be asked to contribute early.
And if that’s not shaky enough, no other cornerback on the current roster played a single regular-season snap last year. That’s a risky proposition in a conference filled with elite receivers....
