Cornerback Might Be Packers’ Biggest Offseason Need

Depth can disappear in a hurry in the NFL. That was the case at cornerback for the Packers, who saw strength become weakness in the blink of an eye.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – What’s the Green Bay Packers’ biggest need now that the offseason is officially upon us?

Last year, the answer to that question was simple: Anyone with a pulse, an ounce of athleticism and the ability to catch a football.

With a superb draft, general manager Brian Gutekunst took care of those needs by drafting receivers Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks and tight ends Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft. With all four becoming instant-impact players, the Packers became the only team since the 1970 merger to have four rookies with 30-plus receptions.

Now, Gutekunst needs to do it again. While the offensive line was the unsung hero of the team’s playoff push, the Packers might be looking for their next franchise left tackle.

However, the Packers almost always use their first-round pick on defensive players, and that might be the direction again.

The 33rd Team’s Marcus Mosher selected the biggest need for every team. For Green Bay, it’s cornerback.

Depth is fleeting in the NFL, and the Packers’ cornerback depth vanished like a snowbank during this bizarre Green Bay winter.

At this time last year, the Packers had Jaire Alexander, Rasul Douglas, Eric Stokes and Keisean Nixon to fight over three spots. Would Joe Barry pick Douglas and Stokes as his perimeter cornerbacks with Alexander in the slot? Or would it be some combination of Alexander, Douglas and Stokes at cornerback with Nixon in the slot?

Barry never had to decide.

Slow to come back from the foot injury that delivered a premature end to a disappointing second NFL season, Stokes opened the 2023 season on the physically unable to perform list. His return to game action was fleeting – three snaps on special teams at Denver before being placed on injured reserve because of a hamstring injury.

With Stokes on the shelf, Gutekunst traded Douglas and a fifth-round pick to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2024 draft.

The trade, made with the Packers scuffling along at 2-5, created a much-needed path to playing time for Stokes, the talented 2021 first-round pick. Once healthy, Stokes immediately jumped into the starting lineup for late-season games against the Buccaneers and Panthers, only to re-injure the hamstring and go back on injured reserve for the rest of the season.

Meanwhile, with injuries, subpar play and a one-game suspension for his self-appointed captaincy at Carolina, Alexander had the worst season of his career.

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By season’s end, the three leaders in snaps were Nixon – the sole piece of stability as the team’s slot defender for all 17 games – rookie seventh-round pick Carrington Valentine and journeyman veteran Corey Ballentine.

The way-too-early cornerback depth chart for 2024 is muddled, to say the least.

Alexander will return, but will he return to All-Pro form under new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley and a third position coach in as many seasons?

Valentine will return, but will he play with improved consistency following an up-and-down rookie year?

Douglas is with the Bills.

Nixon is a free agent.

Ballentine is a free agent, too.

And Stokes? His career has fallen off a cliff following a standout rookie season. After leading the team with 14 passes defensed in 16 games in 2021, he incredibly has zero passes defensed in 12 games the last two seasons.

“Jaire Alexander had an up-and-down season as he dealt with injuries, but the Green Bay Packers need to find someone opposite him,” Mosher wrote. “Eric Stokes was expected to be that player, but injuries have derailed his career.”

For the Packers, who own the 25th pick of this year’s draft, a strong draft class awaits. Landing Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell, who had a superb Senior Bowl week, might require trading into the top 20.

However, battle-tested SEC cornerbacks Ennis Rakestraw Jr. of Missouri, Kool-Aid McKinstry of Alabama and Kamari Lassiter of Georgia could be available, and Clemson’s Nate Wiggins looks like a good fit, as well. Iowa’s Cooper DeJean could help at cornerback, safety and slot.

The free-agent group is strong, too, led by the Bears’ Jaylon Johnson, the Chiefs’ L’Jarius Sneed and the Bengals’ Chidobe Awuzie, along with Colts slot Kenny Moore, though Gutekunst’s money tree might not have enough branches.

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