Acme Packing Company
Six players will be in the mix for five jobs this summer in Green Bay.
Now that we’re on the other side of the Jaire Alexander drama, it’s time to focus on what the Green Bay Packers’ starting secondary could look like this upcoming season. As a refresher, here’s how it went down last year:
Keisean Nixon was officially kicked to outside cornerback full-time after being compensated like a slot defender on a three-year deal. When Alexander was out of the lineup due to injury, the cornerbacks who competed for playing time opposite of Nixon were Eric Stokes, who has since signed a $4 million contract with the Las Vegas Raiders, and Carrington Valentine, who returns to the team.
In the offseason, the Packers added Nate Hobbs, who mostly played in the slot for the Raiders during his rookie contract, to a four-year, $48 million deal, which the NFL seems to believe was a market-setting deal at the slot position, considering how the average per year at the position, excluding Hobbs’ deal, jumped 30 percent following Hobbs’ signing.
At safety, Evan Williams won the job opposite of free-agent signing Xavier McKinney mid-season, which pushed second-round rookie Javon Bullard into the slot and allowed Nixon to play outside cornerback full-time. To say the least, Bullard’s time in the slot came with mixed results, particularly against the Detroit Lions — who found success targeting him and his below-average foot speed on crossing routes in their second matchup of the season before Bullard dropped out of action.
With Alexander out of the picture, the Packers’ 2025 secondary really boils down to there being five spots (in the team’s nickel set, which they’ll play two-thirds of the time) for six competitors. We’ll focus on the nickel sets today, as the expectation is that Nixon and Hobbs will be starting cornerbacks in base 4-3 looks. Last year, Green Bay essentially matched the number of cornerbacks they fielded on a given down to how many receivers opposing offenses put on the field. At the moment, 11 personnel is played in the NFL about two-thirds of the time, which means that two-cornerback looks are only expected to be played by the Packers about one-third of the time in 2025, should they continue that style of play this year.
Let’s go through Green Bay’s three options for their 2025 nickel secondary, including which player would be left on the bench in each scenario.
Scenario: Javon Bullard wins the safety job over Evan Williams.
Evan Williams and Javon Bullard, two 2024 draft picks, are being given the opportunity to battle it out at the safety position this summer. While Williams outperformed Bullard there as rookies, Williams starting next to Xavier McKinney has yet to be written in stone by the coaching staff. If Bullard, for whatever reason, ends up starting...
