New Packers Cornerback Nate Hobbs Will ‘Be Underdog Till I Die’

GREEN BAY, Wis. – When he was drafted in the fifth round by the Raiders in 2021, Nate Hobbs called himself an “underdog.”

After signing a four-year, $48 million contract with the Green Bay Packers, does Hobbs still consider himself an underdog?

“I’m gonna be an underdog if I was getting paid $100 million, because I don’t see any articles or anything out of me being the top corner. Do you?” Hobbs said on Friday at Lambeau Field.

“Have you seen, ‘Nate Hobbs is a top corner, Nate Hobbs is top five.’ Nah, so even if I was a $100 million guy, in my heart of hearts, I’m an underdog, and I’m never going to forget that. And I could be the top corner, whatever the case is. Still an underdog, because I had to scratch and claw and fight to get here. Nothing was given to me, everything was taken. I say, there’s two ways to get respect. You either earn it or you take it. I like taking it. I’m going to be an underdog till I die. That’s just me.”

Hobbs played in 51 games with 39 starts in four seasons with the Raiders, recording three interceptions, 19 passes defensed and 14 tackles for losses. According to Sports Info Solutions, he allowed a meager 42.9 percent catch rate with zero touchdowns allowed in 2024.

The Packers see him as a versatile, ascending, athletic addition to a secondary that needs all of those things. He’s also someone that fits Green Bay’s culture.

“Once we get acquainted, and I know you and I care about you, I’m willing to do anything for you,” Hobbs said. “I’m willing to take the shirt off my back for you. I’m willing to pick you up when you’re down. I’m willing to, just outside of the field, be a real friend, be a real brother.

“I think that’s the most important thing outside of football. But on the football field, they going to learn I’m bringing it every day. I’m bringing it all out there. They not going to have to worry about me doing my job and I’m going to bring people with me.”

As he talked, his mom, Denise, stood in the corner wearing a No. 21 jersey and a smile. She raised him and his siblings after Hobbs’ father died when Hobbs was 12.

When asked what this meant for his family, the native of Louisville, Ky., paused for several seconds.

“I thank the Packers that they believed in me,” Hobbs said. “I don’t take that lightly at all. I don’t take people believing in me lightly. I don’t want to go into it a whole lot but, from where I come from, this don’t happen.

“My mother over there in the corner, she’s been my biggest motivation, my biggest motivator and the reason why I’m here standing tall in front of you guys today, because I seen her never quit, never fold. Never, never, ever, ever quit. That’s why I am the way I am. She’s the true pioneer in this room. She’s the reason why this deal is this deal.”

Hobbs, his mother and his agents were together in Louisville when Hobbs mulled his free-agent options and selected Green Bay.

“She had some tears because my mother raised four children on $25,000 a year,” Hobbs said. To drive home the point, he repeated himself. “$25,000 a year, she raised four children off of that. So, I’m making a lot more than $25,000 a year. (laughs). I think we’ll be all right.”

All right, indeed. From humble roots, he was lightly recruited coming out of high school and a late-round draft pick into the NFL, he hopes his story can inspire others.

“I want them to just look at me because I had zero [recruiting] stars. I got two stars because I committed to the University of Illinois. I think they gave me those two stars because I was going to a Big Ten school, honestly. On top of that, I had no offers my junior year. I didn’t play until my junior year. I was a nobody in the football world. Same thing coming out for the draft. I was supposed to go undrafted.

“Whatever you put your mind to, anything is possible. But you’ve got to believe in yourself first.”

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— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) March 14, 2025