These Cornerbacks Might Not Be on Packers’ NFL Draft Board

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers at this point would roll into the season with Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine and Nate Hobbs as the starting cornerbacks. Are they good enough to win with, especially with premier quarterbacks filling the schedule?

The Packers’ answer to that question will be made clear during the NFL Draft. Will they take a cornerback in the first or second round in hopes of finding a Jaire Alexander-style stopper? At the very least, they need to bolster the ranks after losing Eric Stokes, Corey Ballentine and Robert Rochell in free agency and most likely parting ways with Alexander, as well.

General manager Brian Gutekunst has drafted seven cornerbacks. Here’s what his history says about who might be the best fit and who might not fit at all.

Height and Weight

The Packers are really small at cornerback, which is weird because Gutekunst – and Ted Thompson before him – have taken a pass on short cornerbacks.

Valentine, a seventh-round pick in 2023, is the tallest of the potential starters but at only 5-foot-11 5/8. Hobbs and Nixon, who both entered the NFL with the Raiders, are 5-foot-11 3/8 and 5-foot-10 1/4, respectively. Alexander is 5-foot-10 1/4, as well. Javon Bullard, a second-round pick last year who manned the slot, is 5-foot-10 1/2.

Stokes (6-foot 5/8), a first-round pick in 2021, and Josh Jackson (6-foot 3/8), a second-round pick in 2018, are the only 6-footers.

History says Gutekunst won’t touch Kansas State’s Jacob Parrish (5-9 7/8), Western Kentucky’s Upton Stout (5-8 1/2) and North Carolina’s Alijah Huzzie (5-9 3/4).

Going back to Thompson’s first draft in 2005, the Packers haven’t drafted a cornerback lighter than 184 pounds. Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston (183) is the big name that falls short. It’s only one pound and he’s the fastest player in the draft.

Others who are lighter include Rutgers’ Robert Longerbeam (175), Kansas’ Cobee Bryant (180), Florida State’s Fentell Cypress (182) and Kansas’ Mello Dotson (183). Texas-San Antonio’s tall, fast and intriguing Zah Frazier is 186 pounds at almost 6-foot-3.

The 40

The historic Scouting Combine average is 4.493 seconds. Alexander, Stokes and Ka’Dar Hollman crushed that by running in the 4.3s. However, Jackson (4.58) and 2024 seventh-round pick Kalen King (4.61) were dramatically slower, with Gutekunst betting on their big-time Big Ten production.

King was the third-to-last pick of the draft and the final cornerback off the board last year. Gutekunst tends to be a little more lenient with his late-round picks. Jackson, of course, was not a late-round pick, but he did well in the other athletic tests.

So, here are the slow cornerbacks who didn’t make up for it elsewhere: Iowa’s Jermari Harris (4.61), Florida State’s Azareye’h Thomas (4.58), Kansas’ Mello Dotson (4.57) and LSU’s Zy Alexander (4.56). Thomas is the big name from that group. The great mystery is Michigan’s Will Johnson. The potential No. 1 cornerback in the draft (not named Travis Hunter), who is not known for his speed, didn’t run a 40.

Arm Length

The shortest arms by a drafted cornerback belong to King and Shemar Jean-Charles at 30 7/8 inches. Has there been a change in philosophy? In 2015, Thompson used his first-round pick on Damarious Randall and second-round pick on Quentin Rollins; both had 30 1/4-inch arms.

The noteworthy name on the short-arms list is Texas’ Jahdae Barron. Barron is considered a first-round prospect and there’s a decent chance he’ll be available at No. 23. His 29 7/8-inch arms would be a dramatic departure.

Other corners with shorter arms include Michigan’s Johnson (30 1/8) and Notre Dame’s Benjamin Morrison (30 1/2) among early picks. Into Day 3, Oregon’s Jabbar Muhammad (29 1/4), Central Florida’s Mac McWilliams (30), North Carolina’s Huzzie (40) and Cal’s Marcus Harris (30 1/4) might be off the board. Florida’s Jason Marshall and USC’s Jaylin Smith have 30 3/8-inch arms but Marshall, a late-round prospect, had a predraft visit.

The smallest hands among Gutekunst’s corners belong to King at 8 3/4. Going back through two decades of Thompson-Gutekunst’s drafts, the smallest belong to Randall at 8 5/8. Maybe that’s irrelevant but small-hands corners include Rutgers’ Robert Longerbeam (8 1/2), Kansas’ Dotson (8 1/2) and Texas San-Antonio’s Frazier (8 3/8).

Relative Athletic Score

Here are the Relative Athletic Scores for Gutekunst’s corners: Alexander, 9.53; Stokes, 9.37; Valentine, 9.30; Jackson, 9.26; Hollman, 9.22; King, 6.68; Jean-Charles, 4.24.

Again, King was the third-to-last pick in the draft and Jean-Charles was part of the COVID draft, when the number of prospects was down sharply. So, that could explain their outlier scores.

All of the premium picks have had Relative Athletic Scores in the 9s. What would that mean for Texas’ Barron (8.64 because he’s short), Ole Miss’ Trey Amos (8.37 because of a bad vertical and shuttle) and Florida State’s Thomas (8.17 because of all-around mediocre testing), who are considered top-50 prospects?

(We’ve mentioned Kalen King a few times in this story. If you were wondering, Kevin King, the team’s first pick in 2017, aced just about every test and finished with a RAS of 9.71.)

Who Fits at Cornerback for the Packers

Strictly from a size-speed perspective, here might be the best fits for the Packers at cornerback. We broke them down into tiers and highlighted the 9-plus RAS for ease of viewing.

Round 1/2

Michigan’s Will Johnson: 6-foot-1 3/4, 194 pounds. 30 1/8-inch arms. No 40. No RAS.

Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston: 5-11 5/8, 183 pounds. 31 1/2-inch arms. 4.28 40. 9.63 RAS.

Ole Miss’ Trey Amos: 6-foot 3/4, 195 pounds. 31 7/8-inch arms. 4.43 40. 8.37 RAS.

East Carolina’s Shavon Revel: 6-foot-1 7/8, 202 pounds. 32 5/8-inch arms. No 40. No RAS.

Round 2/3

Notre Dame’s Benjamin Morrison: 6-foot 3/8, 193 pounds. 30 1/2-inch arms. No 40. No RAS.

Iowa State’s Darien Porter: 6-foot-2 7/8, 195 pounds. 33 1/2-inch arms. 4.30 40. 9.99 RAS.

California’s Nohl Williams: 6-foot 3/8, 199 pounds. 31 1/4-inch arms. 4.50 40. 7.13 RAS.

Round 3/4

Louisville’s Quincy Riley: 5-10 3/4, 194 pounds. 31 1/4-inch arms. 4.48 40. No RAS.

Virginia Tech’s Darien Strong: 6-foot-1, 185 pounds. 31-inch arms. 4.50 40. 8.33 RAS.

Caleb Ransaw, Tulane: 5-11 5/8, 197 pounds. 31-inch arms. 4.33 40. 9.75 RAS.

Denzel Burke, Ohio State: 5-11 3/8, 186 pounds. 31 7/8-inch arms. 4.48 40. No RAS.

Bilhal Kone, Western Michigan: 6-foot-1 1/4, 190 pounds. 31 5/8-inch arms. 4.43 40. 7.80 RAS.

Day 3

Korie Black, Oklahoma State: 6-foot 1/4, 192 pounds. 31 7/8-inch arms. 4.35 40. 8.42 RAS.

Zah Frazier, Texas-San Antonio: 6-foot-2 7/8, 186 pounds. 33-inch arms. 4.36 40. 9.36 RAS.

Jordan Hancock, Ohio State: 6-foot 1/8, 186 pounds. 31 5/8-inch arms. 4.45 40. 9.82 RAS.

Tommi Hill, Nebraska: 6-foot 1/2, 213 pounds. 32 7/8-inch arms. No 40, No RAS.

Jason Marshall, Florida: 6-foot 3/8, 194 pounds. 30 3/8-inch arms. 4.49 40. 9.42 RAS.

Fentrell Cyrpress, Florida State: 6-foot 1/8, 183 pounds. 31 3/4-inch arms. 4.43 40. 8.58 RAS.

Players You Might Cross Off the Draft Board

Defense: Edge rushers | Defensive tackles | Linebackers

Offense: Offensive line | Tight ends | Receivers | Running backs | Quarterbacks