Packer Central

Packers Take Cornerback Who ‘Matches Prototype’ in ESPN Mock Draft

The Green Bay Packers addressed one of their biggest needs in Jordan Reid’s two-round mock draft at ESPN.
Bill Huber|
Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun catches a pass at the Scouting Combine.
Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun catches a pass at the Scouting Combine. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers don’t need to make “wholesale changes” at cornerback, general manager Brin Gutekunst said recently. He’s right. What they could use is a No. 1 cornerback that can lighten the load for everyone else.

In Jordan Reid’s two-round mock draft at ESPN.com, the Packers selected Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun.

“Igbinosun matches the Packers' cornerback prototype,” Reid wrote, “as he's a big, physical and explosive athlete at 6-foot-2, 189 pounds. Igbinosun's developmental arc will take some time, as he's handsy in coverage, but the long-term patience could pay off in time.”

Igbinosun measured exactly 6-foot-2 at the Scouting Combine, and he ran his 40 in 4.45 seconds. His vertical was only 34 inches, which dinged him on his Relative Athletic Score.

“I would say some of my best traits is my physical ability at the line of scrimmage,” he said at the Scouting Combine. “I have long arms, play press man, disrupt the timing and I would say I tackle very well. I put my face in defenders, I’m not afraid of the run.”

Igbinosun is Dane Brugler’s No. 50 prospect at The Athletic.

“With prototypical size and speed for outside work, Igbinosun can carry routes vertically and stay in phase to contest passing windows,” Brugler wrote. “Teams must be comfortable with his aggressive physicality.”

To Brugler’s point – and this is encouraging – Igbinosun went from 16 penalties in 2024 to five in 2025.

“I would say what helped me improve that was I had to acknowledge what I was doing wrong and had to clean up and fix it,” he said. “I would say just my poise at the top of the route and just rely more on my feet than my hands.”

Igbinosun didn’t make Daniel Jeremiah’s latest top 50, which he published before the Scouting Combine. He’s No. 70 for Justin Melo of On SI and No. 63 at Pro Football Focus.

He is the No. 79 prospect at Sports Info Solutions, which charged him with just a 36 percent completion rate in 2025. Impressively, of the 16 receptions he allowed, he gave up 17 yards after the catch.

“Davison Igbinosun is an outside cornerback in Ohio State’s talented secondary, who has experience playing in the boundary or field spots,” Andrew Oja wrote. “The Buckeyes utilized a good mix of zone and man coverage schemes, while he also played a high number of snaps in press coverage.”

Igbinosun opened his career at Ole Miss before moving to Ohio State for his final three seasons. He was excellent. According to Pro Football Focus, he allowed completion percentages of 50.7 in 2023, 53.3 in 2024 and 47.8 in 2025. He allowed zero touchdowns in 2025, meaning a passer rating of just 42.6.

“That’s the reason why I went to Ohio State,” he said at the Combine. “I knew when I went to Ohio State I was going to be given an opportunity to just be developed and be prepared to be a pro. So, that was my main reason of going to Ohio State, just to be developed. So when I walk in a building, in a program in the NFL, I’m ready.”

Not only did he face excellent receivers in the Big Ten and in the playoffs, he went against a bunch at practice.

“They're all tough to guard. But I would say who stood out the most was Jeremiah Smith,” he said at the Combine. “He walked in the building doing some things we've never seen before.”

Green Bay’s top cornerbacks from last season, Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine and Nate Hobbs, are under contract through 2026. However, Hobbs was a high-priced disappointment and Nixon and Valentine will be free agents after 2026. So, there is work to be done, not just for the upcoming season.

“I thought he played very well for us and he’s a guy we like having on our team,” Gutekunst said at the Scouting Combine of Nixon wanting a new contract. “He brings a competitive edge to us, but all those contract things we’ll keep in house.”

The Packers took advantage of the depth at cornerback by making Igbinosun the seventh player off the board at the position in Reid’s mock.

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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.