Grading the Packers on Salary-Cap Curve: Cornerbacks

Jaire Alexander has gone from good to very good to elite in his three season. Kevin King and Josh Jackson, on the other hand ...

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Player grades are a staple series of stories at the end of every season. Ours are different, as we grade based on their impact compared to the salary cap. That’s because the cap is such a big part of building a roster. Not only must a team’s high-priced players deliver but it must have some of its less-expensive players outperform their contracts. Generally, the Green Bay Packers got those contributions on the way to a second consecutive NFC Championship Game.

Part 9 of this series focuses on the cornerbacks. All salary data is from OverTheCap.com.

Jaire Alexander

No. 48 among cornerbacks with $3,286,564 cap charge

Alexander went from all-rookie as a first-round pick in 2018 to Pro Bowl alternate in 2019 to Pro Bowler in 2020. It’s a credit to Alexander that he hasn’t let the hype take away from his progress. This is an elite defender.

According to Pro Football Focus, 78 corners played at least half of the passing snaps. He ranked sixth with 15.1 snaps per reception, third with 0.64 yards per snap and fifth with a 68.3 passer rating, according to PFF. He intercepted one pass and broke up 13, down from two picks and 17 passes defensed in 2019, but quarterbacks were much less willing to throw his way this year. Sports Info Solutions had Alexander giving up a paltry 40.6 percent completion rate. That was the lowest in the NFL among starters, according to SIS.

You want dominance? In Week 16 against Tennessee, he allowed 1-of-5 passing for 10 yards. In Week 17 against Chicago, he allowed 3-of-5 passing for 7 yards. In the divisional win over the Rams, he allowed 1-of-2 passing for minus-3 yards. In the championship game against Tampa Bay, he allowed 1-of-5 passing for 19 yards and two interceptions.

For his first two seasons, Alexander was a willing if not always efficient tackler. That changed this year, too. Sports Info Solutions had Alexander’s missed-tackle count plummet from 14 to four.

If you want to knock Alexander’s play a bit, he doesn’t produce many game-changing plays. After intercepting a pass against Minnesota in the opener, he didn’t have any the rest of the regular season. Maybe the two picks of Tom Brady will be the launching point to the next chapter of his career.

Grade: A.

Kevin King

No. 63 with $2,252,998 cap charge

Almost nothing King could do could possibly erase the mistake of former general manager Ted Thompson bypassing T.J. Watt and drafting King in 2017. It’s not King’s fault that Watt is a three-time All-Pro and one of the best big-play pass rushers in the NFL. But at least King had his 2019 season to reduce the sting. Finally staying healthy after playing less than one-third of the defensive snaps his first two seasons, King ranked among the NFL leaders with five interceptions and 15 passes defensed.

King took a step backward this season. It cost the Packers in the NFC Championship Game, when he allowed two touchdowns, and it will cost him in free agency.

Limited to 11 games by a quad injury, King had zero interceptions and five passes defensed. After giving up completion rates of 59.1 percent in 2017, 52.2 percent in 2018 and 60.2 percent in 2019, King gave up a 70.3 percent completion rate in 2020, according to PFF. Opponents beat him for a 115.0 passer rating. It seemed like he was playing hurt. When he scooped up a loose ball against Carolina, a man with 4.43 speed in the 40 might have gone the distance. Instead, he was easily chased down. Too often – perhaps because of the labrum issues that dated to his time at Washington – his tackling amounted to throwing himself at the ball-carrier’s legs and hoping for the best.

Grade: D.

Josh Jackson

No. 73 with $1,706,209 cap charge

The Packers doubled up with Jaire Alexander and Jackson with the top picks in 2018. Alexander is a stud but Jackson is trending toward dud. Jackson took his lumps as a rookie but played in all 16 games with 10 starts and 718 snaps. He showed his nose for the football by breaking up 10 passes. In 2019, he played only 103 defensive snaps in 14 games (zero starts) and didn’t break up any passes. In 2020, he played 331 snaps in 11 games (five starts) and broke up only two passes. Sports Info Solutions charged him with 17-of-25 passing (68.0 percent) for 174 yards and one touchdown.

Jackson started five consecutive games in place of injured Kevin King. However, he played in only three of the final seven regular-season games and was a healthy scratch for Week 16 against Tennessee and both playoff games. Jackson lacks elite speed, which isn’t a deal breaker. The bigger issue is he seems to lack confidence in his ability, which lends to too much reaching and grabbing. To state the obvious, second-round picks can’t be inactive, especially for playoff games.

Jackson was considered a potential first-round pick after recording eight interceptions during his final season at Iowa. In three NFL seasons, he has zero.

Grade: F.

Chandon Sullivan

No. 132 with $750,000 cap charge

Sullivan replaced veteran Tramon Williams in the slot and had a decent season. Manning the slot for all 16 games, he recorded 40 tackles, one interception and finished fourth on the team with six passes defensed. According to Pro Football Focus and its best estimation of coverage responsibilities, of the 32 corners who played at least 160 coverage snaps from the slot, Sullivan ranked 10th in passer rating (89.6), 12th with 1.13 yards per coverage snap and second with 10.8 snaps per reception allowed.

According to Sports Info Solutions, Sullivan gave up a 58.3 percent completion rate this season compared to 28.6 percent in 2019, when he was mostly a sixth defensive back. He is not a great tackler, which can be problematic in the slot. Jared Goff and Tom Brady went after him in the playoffs. After a slow start against the Buccaneers, he played pretty well the rest of the way. You could do worse than Sullivan; you could do better, too.

Grade: B-minus.

Ka’dar Hollman

No. 148 with $718,736 cap charge

A sixth-round pick in 2019, Hollman went from four regular-season snaps as a rookie to 108 in 2020, when he played in 14 games with one start. He broke up two passes in Game 4 vs. Atlanta and logged 77 snaps in Game 8 against San Francisco and Game 9 against Jacksonville. He fell off the face of the earth, though, as an inactive for both playoff games.

His limited body of work in coverage was promising. Sports Info Solutions charged him with just 5-of-15 for 83 yards and one touchdown, the 33.3 percent ranking No. 1 among corners targeted at least 15 times. But you really shouldn’t be jumped on the depth chart by a practice-squad guy for playoff games. That’s an indictment of his work on special teams. With uncertainty revolving around the futures of Kevin King and Josh Jackson, Hollman could be facing a make-or-break training camp next summer.

Grade: D.

Parry Nickerson

No. 186 with $555,882 cap charge

A sixth-round pick in 2018 by the Jets, the rocket-fast Nickerson was signed on Sept. 7. He played two snaps on special teams in his Packers debut at Tampa Bay, suffered a hamstring injury and was placed on injured reserve.

Grade: F.

KeiVarae Russell

No. 254 with $124,129 cap charge

A third-round pick by Kansas City in 2016 with 20 games of regular-season experience under his belt, Russell was signed to the practice squad at midseason. He was elevated for one regular-season game. When the playoffs arrived, he was on the active roster ahead of former Packers draft picks Josh Jackson and Ka’dar Hollman. It was obvious why: Russell became a weapon on the coverage units. In a perfect world, he’d be a no-brainer re-signing. But, this is a COVID world and even low-priced veterans might be nudged aside for cheap rookie talent.

Grade: Incomplete.

Grading the Packers

Cornerbacks

Outside linebackers

Inside linebackers

Defensive line

Offensive line

Running backs

Tight ends

Receivers

Quarterbacks