The Green Bay Packers signed a 2021 fourth-round pick off of the Carolina Panthers’ practice squad to help bolster depth at the cornerback position entering Week 8.
On Wednesday, the team announced the signing of cornerback Robert Rochell, the 130th overall pick in the 2021 draft who has played in 28 games since entering the NFL. He is an elite athlete, mostly played on the perimeter for the Rams and has special teams experience.
Here’s the breakdown of Rochell from Rams Wire managing editor Cameron Dasilva: “He’s a big, athletic corner who was raw coming out of college but never really improved or came close to hitting his ceiling. He didn’t have the quickness to mirror receivers’ routes and his ball skills didn’t show up when he was targeted. The Rams dealt with a ton of injuries last season and still didn’t give Rochell much of a chance to play in his second season.”
Rochell (6-2, 195) played in 11 games as a rookie and all 17 games in 2022 for the Rams. He started five games in 2021 and produced four pass breakups and an interception over 234 snaps. In 2022, Rochell played just 26 snaps on defense but was on the field for 325 special teams snaps, or 75 percent of the Rams’ total last season.
Per PFF, Rochell missed three tackles and gave up 13 catches for 176 yards and one touchdown pass on 20 targets as a rookie. His passer rating against was 88.1, and he committed just one penalty.
As a core special teamer for the Rams in 2022, Rochell made four tackles but also missed six others, and he committed two penalties. He played on five of the six special teams groupings: kickoff coverage, punt coverage, kickoff return, punt return and field goal block.
Most of Rochell’s snaps, even dating back to college, have come on the perimeter, limiting his versatility to play in the slot. But playing within schemes in Los Angeles and Carolina should help ease the transition to what the Packers run in Green Bay.
The Rams released Rochell during final cuts in August. He spent three weeks on the practice squad of the Seattle Seahawks and had been on the practice squad of the Panthers since Sept. 20 when the Packers signed him.
His athleticism is certainly one reason to believe in the potential. Rochell’s Relative Athletic Score coming out of Central Arkansas was 9.65 out of 10.0. While on the smaller side, Rochell produced elite jumping numbers, an elite 40-yard dash and elite numbers in the agility drills.
Now in Green Bay, Rochell will have to develop into more than just an athlete. Technique was a big question mark for Rochell coming out of Arkansas State. Passing game coordinator Greg Williams and defensive backs coach Ryan Downard will be tasked with teaching Rochell the techniques necessary for playing in Joe Barry’s zone-heavy defense.
The Packers needed depth at cornerback with Jaire Alexander battling a back injury that has kept him out of three of the last four games and Eric Stokes going on injured reserve after injuring his hamstring in his season debut on Sunday in Denver. Rochell joins Alexander, Rasul Douglas, Keisean Nixon, rookie Carrington Valentine and practice-squad signing Corey Ballentine as the six cornerbacks on Green Bay’s roster.
Rochell was an All-Southland Conference selection in 2019 after intercepting five passes and breaking up 13 others. He participated in the Senior Bowl before the 2021 draft.
