3 Packers Fits Who Would Address Their Need At Cornerback

It’s officially the offseason in the NFL. As usual for the copycat league, every team will model its team-building after the Super Bowl champion — in this case, the Seattle Seahawks. 

But that’s easier said than done. Seattle was elite across all facets of the game, with an extremely efficient and balanced offense, a mauling defense, and a top-five kicker, punter, and returner. That’s not easy to replicate.

The good news for our Green Bay Packers is that they feel close to being there in two categories. They had a hyper-efficient offense for the most part, although it sputtered at times due to an inconsistent, beat-up offensive line. The Packers also had a dominant defense when their best players were on the field. 

However, their defense failed to create many turnovers. Once Micah Parsons and Devonte Wyatt were injured, it exacerbated the holes at cornerback and in Green Bay’s interior defensive line depth. (We’re going to ignore special teams today, but shout out to Daniel Whelan.) 

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the Packers can best allocate their limited resources to fill their biggest holes – offensive line, interior defensive line, and corner – and become an elite team next season.

However, I didn’t name any players because there wasn’t much clarity on what every roster and coaching staff would look like come the offseason. I just laid the groundwork for how I believe they should allocate the resources. 

But now we are officially in the offseason and have more clarity on what every team’s coaching staff looks like. We know who the potential cut and trade candidates are, and who has declared for the draft. Here are some names that make sense based on the parameters I set a few weeks ago, starting with cornerback.

Nate Hobbs, Carrington Valentine, and Keisean Nixon are under contract, and the Packers are unlikely to move them, given that doing so wouldn’t free up much or any cap space. All three are stretched in their roles. Therefore, adding a starter to reshuffle the depth chart would greatly help Green Bay’s cornerback room.

The hard part is that Green Bay desperately needs a starter. However, they don’t have starter cap space, and it’d be tough to bet on a second-round pick to come in and be that immediately. Therefore, the best way to allocate resources to CB is to take shots on bargain bin, buy-low reclamation projects. Therefore, the focus here will be on finding free agents at value.

Green Bay has already started looking for corner depth, starting with claiming Trevon Diggs off waivers at the end of last season. Diggs was an All-Pro corner in 2021 but has not been the same since injuring his ACL in 2023. The Packers released Diggs shortly after the season. Still, that was always a possibility given his contract, and I wouldn’t rule out him re-signing with Green Bay. Spotrac projects he will make $7.5 million AAV.

Eric Stokes

Stokes is an extremely interesting and tricky option. 

Green Bay drafted Stokes, and he had an up-and-down career before signing with the Las Vegas Raiders last season. What you may not know, given that the Raiders won three games last year, is that Stokes quietly put together a solid season. 

The part that intrigues me most is that, under new DC Jonathan Gannon, Green Bay is back to using a system more similar to the one in which Stokes thrived as a rookie. The tricky part is that they already went their separate ways once, and we do not know where the relationship stands. 

If they didn’t have a prior history, Stokes would be a perfect fit. Despite his season, his projected AAV is only $7.3 million, less than Trevon Diggs‘, who Dallas cut midseason.

Tariq Woolen

Woolen isn’t necessarily a reclamation project. He was still a good player last season, as evidenced by the stat above. However, unfortunately for him, he’s not coming off his best season from an optics standpoint. 

As a boom-or-bust corner, I wouldn’t say the busts were more frequent; you don’t end up 0.7 yards per coverage snap, giving up huge plays all the time. However, the busts were much louder than you would’ve liked and truly showed out with the extracurricular antics we saw in the playoffs. That likely leaves most people with a negative impression, even for a Super Bowl Champion. 

Still, Woolen is a 6’4” freak athlete that’s still just 26 years old and won’t cost a fortune. He perfectly fits Green Bay’s free-agent archetype and would easily be their best corner the day he signs. His projected AAV is $8.1 million.

Tredavious White

Tredavious White is my favorite bargain bin player, and he also made the list above. White had a resurgent season returning to the Buffalo Bills at age 30. With Sean McDermott out, there doesn’t seem to be an obvious fit for the vet. 

However, former Bills DC Bobby Babich is now in Green Bay as the defensive passing-game coordinator and secondary coach. White seems like a great fit for a team in desperate need for corners, and his projected AAV is just $1.2 million. 

The only thing with White is that the Packers aren’t typically in the business of older mercenary players in free agency. However, it may be wise to consider a few, given that the Packers have an almost completely new defensive staff.