The Green Bay Packers entered the offseason with a clear need to upgrade their options at cornerback. On the surface, signing Nate Hobbs to a big deal seems like a solid move by GM Brian Gutekunst and his staff. Closer examination shows that the Packers might regret handing the 25-year-old defensive back such a lucrative free agent contract.
Green Bay's cap sheet won't be ruined by the four-year, $48 million deal they inked Hobbs to soon after free agency began. It still represented a hefty chunk of change for a Packers team that was no overly active on the open market. Hobbs' deal was one of two significant contracts the franchise handed out alongside guard Aaron Banks.
It's also important to note that the Packers do have an out after this season if they're dissatisfied with Hobbs' level of production. It would cost them $12 million in dead money to part ways with him before the 2026 season begins but that does give the franchise valuable flexibility.
That out is particularly important because there should be serious concerns about how impactful Hobbs can be with his new team. Ironically, one of the reasons Green Bay was shopping for a new cornerback this offseason was due to Jaire Alexander's inability to stay healthy.
Hobbs has the same problem. He played in less than half of the Raiders' defensive snaps last season due to injury. There's no reason to believe moving to Green Bay will suddenly improve his availability. The fact that he has never played more than 11 games in one regular-season should have earned the Packers a bigger discount when it came to the corner's free agent contract.
Health won't be the only challenge for Nate Hobbs
There are also real questions about where Hobbs is going to play in coordinator Jeff Hafley's defensive scheme. He entered the NFL as an outside corner but he's primarily operated in the slot over the last two seasons for the Raiders.
The Packers are not short of options in the slot. Javon Bullard and Evan Williams both played well on the inside in 2024. Either second-year pro can also be deployed at safety but the Packers did a good job covering inside receivers a season ago. In sharp contrast, they struggled on the outside against of the NFL's top X-receivers whenever Alexander was unable to play.
Some league observers believe Hobbs will log significant snaps at multiple cornerback positions in 2025. It's conceivable that the Packers could line him up on the boundary on early downs before sliding him inside for more obvious passing situations. That could permit Hafley to get his best three cornerbacks onto the field as much as possible.
The applicable question is why the Packers felt the need to make such an unconventional signing. The more prudent route for Gutekunst to take would have been to sign an out-and-out outside cornerback who could play reliable football. Those sorts of corners don't grow on trees but there were some out there on the open market for Green Bay.
It might even be prudent for the Packers to add a late free agent to their cornerback room. Rolling the dice on someone like Asante Samuel Jr. could turn into a season-changing move for Green Bay. Of course, his health history also opens up the possibility that he could turn into a non-factor.
In a vacuum, gambling on a player with Hobbs' talent can be viewed as a worthwhile risk to a team like the Packers who believe themselves to be legitimate Super Bowl contenders. The problem with the Hobbs signing for Green Bay this year is that it wasn't surrounded by other quality transactions. They are playing a ton of faith in a player with a checkered injury history to help reinforce their defense on a weekly basis.
The most likely outcome now for the Packers is that they will count on Hobbs and Alexander to combine to play almost every week on the outside. That's a poor use of resources. Alexander remains one of the highest paid corners in the league and trying to pair him with another highly paid cornerback is not a good use of salary cap by Gutekunst.
There's always a chance Hobbs can bounce back and have a career year health wise. If that happens, the Packers will only need to be concerned with his scheme fit. The least the front office could have done was to find a cornerback who only had one obvious weakness in free agency.