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<\/p>\nAfter the season, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst disagreed with the idea that the team needed to make \u201cwholesale changes\u201d at cornerback.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we had some injuries there,\u201d Gutekunst said during what doubled as a season-ending news conference and a news conference about his contract extension.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, (Nate) Hobbs was missed for most of the season (and) never really got going. I thought Carrington (Valentine) stepped in and did a great job. He\u2019s a young player who\u2019s still getting better. Keisean had a very, very good year. I think he was in the top three in PBUs and did some really good things. Do we need wholesale changes? No.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Instead, Gutekunst said the team needed depth.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s got depth, and maybe wholesale changes to the starting lineup will follow.<\/p>\n
During free agency, Gutekunst gave Hobbs the heave-ho, signed veteran Benjamin St-Juste and used his first draft pick on South Carolina cornerback Brandon Cisse. Along with sixth-round pick Domani Jackson, there were three additions at a position of need.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very excited about the kind of athletes we put into that room,\u201d Gutekunst said after the draft.<\/p>\n
The Packers had short- and long-term needs at cornerback. Nixon tied for sixth in the NFL with 17 passes defensed. Even with getting to watch Week 18 from the sideline, he was only two off the NFL lead. While Valentine had only four passes defensed, he gave up a solid 56.4 percent completion rate when targeted, according to Pro Football Focus.<\/p>\n
However, Nixon had only one interception during the regular season. According to PFF, he gave up seven touchdowns, was penalized 12 times and yielded a 105.2 passer rating. Nixon was tied for the most penalties allowed and tied for the fifth-most touchdowns allowed. Combined, his 19 penalties and touchdowns were the most for any cornerback, numbers that outweigh the PBU count.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, after forcing a turnover in four consecutive games down the stretch in 2024, Valentine didn\u2019t intercept a pass until the playoffs. He was charged with five touchdowns and a 109.4 passer rating.<\/p>\n
With Hobbs\u2019 injury-riddled disappointment, it was clear the Packers needed immediate help at corner.<\/p>\n
They needed long-term help, too. After dumping Hobbs, only St-Juste was under contract after the upcoming season.<\/p>\n
First, Gutekunst signed St-Juste in free agency. A third-round pick in 2021, the 6-foot-3 cornerback will add some badly needed size at the position.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s had an up-and-down career but played well in a reserve role for the Chargers last season. According to PFF, here\u2019s the statistical comparison:<\/p>\n Completion percentage:<\/strong> St-Juste, 50.0; Nixon, 51.0; Valentine, 56.4.<\/p>\n Yards per reception:<\/strong> St-Juste, 10.8; Nixon, 11.4; Valentine, 12.8.<\/p>\n Touchdowns to interceptions:<\/strong> St-Juste, 1-1; Nixon, 7-1; Valentine, 5-1.<\/p>\n Passer rating allowed:<\/strong> St-Juste, 64.0; Nixon, 105.2; Valentine, 109.4.<\/p>\n Snaps per reception:<\/strong> St-Juste, 12.2; Nixon, 11.3; Valentine, 13.7.<\/p>\n Missed-tackle percentage:<\/strong> St-Juste, 0.0; Nixon, 3.6; Valentine, 22.6.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he kind of was that third corner, and whenever he got his opportunity to really play, I thought he played at a very, very high level,\u201d Gutekunst told reporters at the owners meetings last month.<\/p>\n \u201cWe liked him a lot coming out of the draft. His size and length on the outside is something we didn\u2019t have a lot of, something we wanted to get. He was a target for us.\u201d<\/p>\n At the draft, Gutekunst doubled and tripled down. First, he grabbed Cisse, who spent his first two seasons at North Carolina and then thrived when he transferred to South Carolina. He doesn\u2019t have elite size (5-foot-11 3\/4) and he doesn\u2019t have elite speed (4.41 in the 40), but he\u2019s got a nice blend of size, speed and coverage ability.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s one of the few guys that can play off man, that can play press,\u201d Gutekunst said. \u201cHis suddenness through transition is something that stood out to us. He\u2019s very young. We think his best football is ahead of him. He\u2019s got so much more left in the tank, not only as a player but physically, as well.<\/p>\n \u201cHe can get bigger and stronger. He was one of those players that we didn\u2019t see being available when we were picking at 52. We\u2019re sure happy that he did. We\u2019re really happy he took the step and went to South Carolina last year and kind of (faced) better competition and really showed well this past year.\u201d<\/p>\n Plus, he\u2019s got the intangibles the Packers covet.<\/p>\n \u201cThey drafted a guy who seems like, if he told me what his hobby was, as far as I know, it seems like it would be football,\u201d South Carolina co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Torrian Gray said.<\/p>\n In the sixth round, Gutekunst threw a Hail Mary at Jackson, who never quite was the sum of his parts but has the physical skill-set at 6-foot 3\/4 with 4.41 speed in the 40.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, certainly, he\u2019s got the size we\u2019re looking for,\u201d Gutekunst said. \u201cCertainly, he\u2019s a rare athlete with his combination of size, explosiveness, speed. He\u2019s played a lot of really good football at a high level of competition.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been through some adversity and he\u2019s made it to the other side of that, which I thought was something that drew us to him a little bit. I think what we ask of those guys playing outside corner as far as size, length and speed, he has that.\u201d<\/p>\n Added together, whether the Packers made \u201cwholesale changes\u201d at cornerback depends on your definition of the phrase. Regardless, the three additions signal the potential for dramatic changes at a critical position.<\/p>\n Even if Nixon and Valentine retain their starting jobs for Week 1, there\u2019s no guarantee either will be in the starting lineup in Week 2, Week 4, Week 8 or the playoffs.<\/p>\n Simply put, the Packers hope the big changes on the depth chart will mean more big plays made (and fewer allowed) by the cornerbacks. It would be anything but a surprise that, in the biggest games of the season, the starters were Cisse and St-Juste.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After the season, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst disagreed with the idea that the team needed to make \u201cwholesale changes\u201d at cornerback. \u201cI think we… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":181750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\nHelp Is On the Way, Part 2<\/h2>\n
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