Nate Hobbs Making Presence Felt at Packers Training Camp

For the Green Bay Packers, there may not be a position group that has generated more discussion than the cornerbacks.

The release of Jaire Alexander, paired with losing former first-round pick Eric Stokes in free agency, left the cornerback group perilously thin. Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine were holdovers from last season but had never been asked to play a full season on the boundary.

Surely, the Packers would target a cornerback early in the NFL Draft, right?

Wrong.

As it turns out, they took three offensive players with their first three picks, passing on defensive backs such as Trey Amos from Ole Miss, Maxwell Hairston from Kentucky and Will Johnson from Michigan in the first two rounds. In fact, the Packers did not take a defensive back in this year’s draft until the seventh round, when they tabbed Micah Robinson with their next-to-last pick of the draft.

Sort of lost in the shuffle of all the news about Alexander was Nate Hobbs, who the Packers signed during the first day of free agency.

Hobbs had been coveted by the Packers for a couple years, and general manager Brian Gutekunst pounced by signing Hobbs to a four-year, $48 million contract. Hobbs played mostly in the slot but spent most of 2022 at corner.

Among his five observations following his visit to Packers training camp on Thursday, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer was largely complimentary of Green Bay’s roster, notably the idea of having linebacker Edgerrin Cooper on the field at the same time as Xavier McKinney to give them another potential game-wrecker. His concern, however, also was at cornerback.

“Corner is the one potential hole on the roster,” he wrote. “They loved his play style and physicality, and so far (yes, it’s early), he’s been playing well outside. Keisean Nixon, for now, is leading the race to play on the other side, and Carrington Valentine is in the mix, too.”

While Breer agreed the Packers could be looking to add a veteran, Gutekunst at the June minicamp boasted about the experience the team had with its top three corners. That includes Hobbs, who has made his presence known during the early stages of training camp.

It’s hard to gather much from unpadded practices that are not always played at full speed, but his skill-set showed up in a competitive drill toward the end of Thursday’s practice, when he broke up a third-down pass to help the defense win a competition period.

Hobbs initially made a mistake, jumping offsides to give the offense 5 free yards. He would immediately atone for his error, by breaking on a ball that was intended for Dontayvion Wicks and knocked it away, forcing Green Bay’s offense to punt.

“I knew my personnel and I knew it was 87 (Romeo Doubs),” Hobbs said afterward. “I wanted to jump him, make him get into his route and apply the pressure on him so the quarterback knew he can’t just hold the ball, surprise him a little bit. The first hard count I didn’t go for. The second hard count, I’m like OK, cool, and I jumped offsides. A mistake we can’t have.

“But I knew if I was to jump offsides, I had to make that (next) play to get us off the field, so I told my teammates, ‘That’s on me. I promise I’ll make that play.’ That builds trust. When your teammates are looking around and are like, that could lose a game, you’ve got to know as a man you’ve got to be accountable. I just told my guys, ‘I’ve got you all. I promise.’ That builds trust.”

That trust Hobbs is talking about is something the Packers clearly have in him, and his new head coach, Matt LaFleur, made sure to make that known early in camp.

“You can really see the guy’s a competitor, and that’s why we loved him on tape,” LaFleur said. “He’s tough. And he was primarily a nickel with the Raiders, and so it’s been pretty cool to watch him come in, played a lot more outside corner, but also we know what he can do if we want to put him inside.”

Physicality and competitiveness is something that could become a trademark of this Green Bay secondary.

Obviously, the excellence of McKinney was the headliner from a year ago, but Valentine and Nixon, both boisterous personalities and competitors, made strides a year ago in helping hold Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles to their lowest point total of what ended up being a Super Bowl run.

Hobbs, with his personality, will fit right in. On Friday, Hobbs forced a fumble by Josh Jacobs and broke up a pass to Dontayvion Wicks.

“I bring high energy,” Hobbs said. “I’m a dog. You can put me anywhere on the field, against anybody, any player, any man, I’m going to stand my ground. Be on my 10 and make plays. I’m going to bring the energy. Every day I’m going to be the same guy, reliable, consistent, and electric.”

With more plays like the one he made to close Thursday’s practice, more electricity will follow, and questions about the secondary could disappear.

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He's the "most interesting" player in the #Packers' secondary.https://t.co/KxA5N5s8Go
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) July 25, 2025