A Packers Reunion at Cornerback?

The Green Bay Packers need help at cornerback and this upcoming free agent and proven ballhawk will be looking for a home in 2025.

Former Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas (29) takes a moment alone before playing against the Chicago Bears in 2023. / Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers need a cornerback. Rasul Douglas needs a home.

Could there be a reunion?

Pro Football Focus’ Mason Cameron looked at “potential landing places” for the cornerbacks and safeties who will be free agents. He thought a return to Green Bay would make sense for both parties after the Packers traded Douglas and a fifth-round pick to the Buffalo Bills for a third-round pick at last year’s trade deadline.

“After he endured a fair share of struggles in 2024, a return to Green Bay would be a natural outcome this offseason,” Cameron thought. “Douglas produced a 71.0-plus PFF coverage grade in each season with the Packers. With Eric Stokes set to become a free agent and Jaire Alexander having missed the better part of the past two seasons, a reunion with Douglas makes sense.”

Douglas is PFF’s third-ranked cornerback in free agency behind only the Jets’ D.J. Reed and the 49ers’ Charvarius Ward. Carlton Davis of the Detroit Lions and Byron Murphy of the Minnesota Vikings also are on the list.

Cornerback is an obvious position of need for the Packers, with Alexander’s uncertain future with the team after missing double-digits games for the third time in four seasons and 2021 first-round pick Eric Stokes and backups Robert Rochell and Corey Ballentine hitting free agency.

A third-round pick by the Eagles in 2017, the Packers grabbed Douglas off the Cardinals’ practice squad in 2021. He turned into a savior for the NFC’s No. 1 seed. In 12 games (nine starts), Douglas allowed a 44.6 percent catch rate, according to Sports Info Solutions, with five interceptions. He had as many pick-sixes (two) as touchdowns allowed.

Douglas had four interceptions in 17 games in 2022 and one in seven games in 2023 before he was traded to Buffalo, where he added four more interceptions for the Bills to give him a total of 14 picks in three seasons.

This year, Douglas started all 15 appearances and allowed a career-worst 69.0 percent catch rate. He yielded four touchdowns, didn’t intercept any passes and was charged with a career-worst 123.7 passer rating.

“Things happen, and you just got to keep going,” Douglas told The New York Post before the AFC Championship Game. “You getting traded, it’s not like you’re getting cut and you’re going somewhere else, you’re just getting traded so it’s like people still see value in you, you know?”

Douglas, who made the clinching onside-kick recovery in the playoff win over Baltimore, will turn 30 just before the kickoff of the 2025 season.

What’s he most proud of?

“That I’m still going,” he told The Post. “I could have gave up. Things weren’t going my way, I ain’t quit, I ain’t look for excuse, exit route, I just stayed down and just kept working. I’m still here. …

“I just want to go out there and do my job on the field and have that trust of my teammates that they know that I’ll do my job to the best of my ability, I think that’s what drives me … not want to let them down.” 

When Douglas was at the top of his game, he drew the highest praise imaginable from Aaron Rodgers.

“Rasul is one of the smartest guys I’ve ever played with. He reminds me a lot in the deepest respect of Charles Woodson,” Rodgers said. “He has incredible ball skills. He baits you at practice. He has the competitive fire that Charles did.”

Responded Douglas: “I appreciate that comment, honestly. That’s big. To even be compared or mentioned in the same sentence with one of the best, you know what I mean, so I appreciate that.”

Douglas was dealt to the Bills during the team’s four-game losing streak last season.

“I might just stay here for a little while,” he said after what wound up being his final game with the team. “I’ve got to find ways. I’ll talk to my coach and just see which way I can lead better. I’m not really a talker and I don’t know if the guys want me to be that, but I’ve got to ask him and make sure he’s honest with me in ways that I can lead and get better.”

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