If you’re putting together a top-five needs list for the Green Bay Packers this offseason, cornerback should be included. On PFF’s top 150 best free agents list, 10 cornerbacks made the cut.
If the Packers go into the 2024 regular season with Jaire Alexander, Carrington Valentine, and Eric Stokes as their top three cornerbacks, they’re probably going to be in good shape. However, even if that’s the case, this group still has several unknowns.
One of which is depth. Currently on the roster outside of those three players are Anthony Johnson and Zyon Gilbert–two practice squad players from 2023. Obviously, for that reason alone, the Packers are going to add to this position in the offseason, but the lack of depth requires them to spend some premium draft capital and/or free agent dollars to address the need.
Depth is important, as we all know. Injuries happen, but on top of that, I’m not sure anyone knows what to expect from Stokes when he returns fully healthy. Stokes had an impressive rookie season in 2021. But in 2022, prior to his season-ending injury, he was struggling, allowing a completion rate of 84 percent and 13.1 yards per catch. This past season was, unfortunately, lost due to injuries.
Another unknown currently is who plays in the slot? Alexander, Stokes, and Valentine have all been boundary cornerbacks throughout their respective careers. Now, Alexander can play inside, and perhaps with a new coaching staff, we see more of that, but whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen.
The Packers haven’t prioritized the slot position previously, but as Brian Gutekunst said in his season-ending press conference, it’s a 4-2-5 league, which in some respects, makes the nickel a premium position.
As I wrote about recently, there may not be another position group that benefits more from the hiring of Jeff Hafley as the defensive coordinator than the cornerbacks. Hafley cut his teeth in the NFL working as a defensive backs coach–the secondary are where his coaching roots begin.
Hafley has also played a lot more man coverage while at Boston College, a skill set that fits his current cornerback room well. Not to mention that Hafley will force the issue, especially on third downs, sending five or six-man pressures, which can hurry the quarterback, resulting in less coverage time for the defensive backs and errant throws.
In general, the Packers need more playmaking from their defensive backs. No Packers cornerback ranked in the top half of the NFL last season in forced incompletions while the defense as a whole generated only seven interceptions—the second-lowest total in 2023. Hopefully, Hafley and his defense will provide a boost in this regard.
Given that the Packers have experience at the cornerback position already on the roster, coupled with this being a good draft class at the front end of the draft, I’m not sure how likely it is that they address cornerback in free agency.
With that said, while I don’t expect Brian Gutekunst to go on any sort of spending spree, the Packers do have added salary cap flexibility this offseason to make an “impact” addition, as Gutekunst put it, if the right player is available. You can read more about the Packers current cap situation here.
If the Packers do dip their toes into free agency at this position, below you will find the 10 cornerbacks who made PFF”s 150 top free agents list. The players in bold spent the majority of their 2023 snaps in the slot, with Spotrac providing some projected contract values when applicable.
9. Jaylon Johnson ($15.7M per year)
10. L’Jarius Sneed ($16.3M per year)
15. Kendall Fuller ($14.1M per year)
26. Chidobe Awuzie
33. Stephon Gilmore ($11.1M per year)
35. Steven Nelson ($10.2M per year)
41. Kenny Moore
82. Adoree Jackson ($11.3M per year)
146. Keisean Nixon ($1.7M per year)
149. Sean Murphy-Bunting ($6.7M per year)
