Injury Could Increase Pressure for Packers to Make Move at NFL Trade Deadline

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday. Will the Green Bay Packers be buyers for the first time since 2010?

Their need for a deadline-deal at cornerback perhaps grew on Monday when an MRI on Nate Hobbs revealed a small tear in his MCL. The injury is to the knee opposite of the one that had surgery to repair a torn meniscus during training camp.

That injury kept him out for most of camp along with the Week 1 game against Detroit. This injury, a source said in confirming Ryan Wood’s report at PackersNews.com, hopefully will be solved with a couple weeks of rest.

The Packers entered the season with almost no proven depth at cornerback. Now they have none. Behind Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine, who started together the last two games, the Packers are left with receiver-turned-cornerback Bo Melton, whose only playing time this season has come on special teams and offense, and Kamal Hadden, who has played in four games in two seasons with the Packers.

Combined, they have played zero snaps on defense in their NFL careers.

On Monday, a day after a disheartening loss to the Carolina Panthers, coach Matt LaFleur said he is in “constant communication” with general manager Brian Gutekunst about personnel needs.

Did the Packers need to acquire a player at the deadline?

“I don’t think so, not necessarily,” LaFleur said. “I know Gutey and the rest of the guys upstairs are doing a great job of looking for things that could potentially help us. If the right decision is there, I’ve got full confidence he’ll make it.”

Cornerback seemed like a major need entering the offseason, which is why the Packers signed Hobbs to a four-year contract in free agency. However, the team did not address the position with any premium draft capital, instead using its first three picks on receiver Matthew Golden, offensive lineman Anthony Belton and receiver Savion Williams.

Of the three, only the first-round pick, Golden, has made a regular impact, though Belton started in Week 2 and Williams has returned kickoffs and scored a touchdown on offense last week at Pittsburgh.

The Packers did use a seventh-round pick on a cornerback, Micah Robinson, but he opened the regular season on the practice squad and was signed to the Titans’ 53-man roster a couple weeks ago.

Meanwhile, after former first-round pick Eric Stokes and backups Corey Ballentine and Robert Rochell left in free agency, the Packers released Jaire Alexander in June. So, more snaps went out the door than came in return.

The problem Gutekunst will face is the classic economic principle of supply and demand. More teams need cornerbacks than are willing to part with them. With 14 teams in the expanded field, the list of sellers is short. The AFC has six teams with six losses while the NFC has only three.

“Everyone’s calling us [about a cornerback] because we stink,” is how one high-ranking executive put it last week.

Next week’s opponent, the always-aggressive Philadelphia Eagles, struck twice, acquiring Michael Carter from the Jets and, of all people, Alexander from the Ravens.

Alexander played in only two of eight games for Baltimore and was a healthy scratch a couple times.

If Gutekunst wants to take a big swing, the Browns’ Denzel Ward probably is the best potentially available cornerback. However, he’s playing under a five-year contract worth $100.5 million and the Packers probably couldn’t afford the salary and probably don’t have the draft capital after sending two first-round picks to the Cowboys for Micah Parsons.

For a smaller swing, another going-nowhere team, the Miami Dolphins, might be willing to part with former Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas. Douglas would be an affordable half-year rental as he’s playing under a minimum-salary contract.

The 30-year-old has started seven games and played well. He has zero interceptions and five passes defensed. According to Pro Football Reference, he’s allowed a catch rate of 59.5 percent with one touchdown.

ESPN’s Matt Bowen and Jeremy Fowler published a list of potential trade candidates last week. Five were corners, with Carter and Roger McCreary (from the Titans to the Rams) already off the market. Also listed were Seattle’s Riq Woolen, New Orleans’ Alontae Taylor and Cincinnati’s Cam Taylor-Britt as options.

Woolen had six interceptions as a rookie in 2022 but has zero picks and seven penalties this season. Taylor the last two seasons has allowed 11 touchdowns with zero interceptions, according to PFF. Taylor-Britt struggled against the Packers a couple weeks ago. He allowed 10 touchdowns with three interceptions in 2024 and three touchdowns and zero interceptions in 2025.

All three players were drafted in 2022 and would be half-year rentals. The cost of the trade could be at least partially recouped with a free-agent compensatory pick if not re-signed.

Back to Hobbs, the injury explains everything. In his first two games of the season, against Washington and Cleveland, Pro Football Focus charged Hobbs with just one catch allowed. The injury showed up at Dallas the following week, and that’s where Hobbs’ season went awry. For his next few games, the injury impacted his ability to change directions and hit top gear.

Ultimately, Hobbs was benched for last week’s win at Pittsburgh. He played 19 snaps on Sunday. Carolina quarterback Bryce Young targeted him once. Tetairoa McMillan had Hobbs beat by a step in the end zone but was overthrown.

On Wednesday, Hobbs was asked if the knee that required surgery in August was a factor in his performance.

“Nah, I’m not going to say that,” he said. “It’s a couple plays here and there. That’s corner. So, all you got to do is keep lining up, you know what I’m saying? And make more plays than you don’t, honestly.”

Hobbs signed a four-year, $48 million contract in free agency.

“It’s only pressure if you make it pressure,” he said of the contract. “The pressure’s all in your head. It was pressure when I was out there playing for $600,000, you know what I’m saying? It was pressure when I was a second-year guy and they had me outside and then inside. They didn’t know if I could do it and I did it better than really anybody in the league.

“So, that was pressure. It’s nothing new. It’s just playing football.”

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