Packer Central

NFL Mock Draft: ‘Mini-Rebuild’ at Cornerback for Packers

The Green Bay Packers addressed their biggest area of need, cornerback, in a new mock draft by Sports Illustrated.

Bill Huber

Mississippi Rebels defensive back Trey Amos (9) breaks up a pass intended for Kentucky Wildcats wide receiver Dane Key.
Mississippi Rebels defensive back Trey Amos (9) breaks up a pass intended for Kentucky Wildcats wide receiver Dane Key. / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers kicked off the season with Jaire Alexander and Eric Stokes as their starting cornerbacks.

With Alexander playing in only seven games for the third time in four seasons and Stokes headed for free agency after barely playing in the final two games, cornerback could be a major focus for general manager Brian Gutekunst this offseason.

In his latest mock draft for Sports Illustrated, Daniel Flick selected Mississippi cornerback Trey Amos with the No. 23 pick of the first round.

“The Packers’ cornerback room is in line for a mini-rebuild,” Flick wrote. “Amos stands 6-foot-1, 190 pounds and has 32-inch arms, a strong body type for the position.”

Amos will get to show his skills at the Senior Bowl.

Amos spent his first three seasons at Louisiana, where he intercepted one pass, before spending the 2023 season at Alabama. When legendary coach Nick Saban stepped down at Alabama, Amos entered the transfer portal again. He landed at Ole Miss. The Rebels are coached by Lane Kiffin, who worked under Saban.

“We had looked at him before and really thought he was a special, unique player,” Kiffin said via The Dispatch. “He is a really good player and phenomenal work ethic, phenomenal culture guy.

“I think, too, when you get people over time from Alabama, you know what you’re getting from Coach Saban. I think when you get players, but especially DBs, you know how they’ve been trained and what they’re used to. So, I think that also helps in this instance.”

With three interceptions – including in back-to-back weeks against South Carolina and LSU – and an additional 13 pass breakups, it was by far the best season of his career.

Amos was voted first-team all-SEC by the coaches and was a second-team All-American by The Sporting News.

“I wasn't really looking for the accolades,” Amos said in December. "It just comes with the hard work from January to now. It just goes to show you that hard work pays off, and I'll continue doing that.

“My younger self, I was looking forward to [being an All-American]. But now, I appreciate that, but there's still stuff left on the table. Still want to keep on improving for this last game. Still, getting the recognition on being an All-American, I'm still grateful for that too.”

At Catholic-New Iberia (La.) High School, he was a state champion in the long jump and played quarterback.

“We’re a 4-through-12 school, and Trey gets an opportunity to interact with those younger kids on campus,” his coach at Catholic said. “It’s been even more impressive to see him grow as a person. He is naturally a quiet kid and extremely humble, but to see him open up and interact with our younger kids on campus and be a role model for them has been nice to see.”

Amos was the fourth of five cornerbacks selected in the first round of the mock. The Minnesota Vikings selected Texas’ Jahdae Barron at No. 24.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.