The Green Bay Packers have a fantastic opportunity to turn the team around and at last have at least league-average defense under new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley. Hafley’s liking of press-man coverage and experience with defensive backs could ultimately result in a sticky, aggressive defense. His approach fits well with Green Bay’s current cornerbacks, and they have opportunity to grow with a strong draft class and plenty of cash in the first four picks.
This past season, Green Bay appeared to have a deep secondary, but things didn’t turn out that way. Jaire Alexander handled some minor interpersonal conflict in addition to injuries.It’s possible that Eric Stokes’ numerous injuries limited his speed, considering Rasul Douglas is currently a player for the Buffalo Bills.Although Carrington Valentine performed admirably in his debut season, the Packers still need to acquire more cornerbacks to their roster. This spring, don’t be shocked to see Green Bay target cornerback in the first round, given need, positional value, and draft depth.
While building their board, the Packers must modernize their defense under Hafley and consider investing in a slot cornerback. They must view it as a separate position. Green Bay just can’t throw bodies in the slot and hope for the best. The Packers need to intentionally invest in the slot CB position to keep their defense modern.
The corners that Green Bay now has work best on the edge. In order to harness Stokes’ speed to keep up with the fastest wideouts close to the sidelines, the Packers drafted him. Valentine demonstrated his peak performance on the edge. Alexander is on the smaller side of Green Bay’s usual size standards, so he can theoretically do anything. Alexander’s injury history makes it dangerous to work in the run game, though, and they would like him to be a team’s top wide receiver.
Joe Barry utilized the team’s kick returner or played players out of position to handle the slot, such as Douglas. The strategy frequently created a square peg/round hole dilemma, which prevented players from being in a position to succeed. In the slot, the Packers were never really able to find an answer.
And that role is a necessity in today’s NFL.
The NFL is seeing success with smaller wide receivers. The 2023 draft class was populated by smaller receivers like Josh Downs, Jayden Reed, Tank Dell, and Zach Flowers, who made a big impression in their rookie campaigns. To be successful in the sloe, of course, requires more than just size. Greater success on the inside can also be attained by larger receivers with exceptional change of pace, quickness, and release.
The slot position is so important that Green Bay began evaluating slot wide receiver prospects using different standards than wide receivers in the past. They loosened their typical restrictions on size for Jayden Reed and Aaron Rodgers because they saw them as slot receivers. While Reed may still deal damage when positioned anywhere, he demonstrated special ability from the slot.
So, if the Packers are willing to update their size thresholds to attack the slot, they need to do the same to defend it.
Becoming a true slot defender requires a different skill set than a boundary corner. Slot CBs need to be able to handle shiftiness and twitchiness and have great change-of-direction skills. Pure burst is nice, but short-area quickness is crucial to staying on target.
The Packers don’t really have a perfect answer. Keisean Nixon has been the closest they’ve had, but there were plenty of times when opposing quarterbacks picked on him. Nixon is at his best at using his intelligence and motor to make plays over raw athleticism.
We know the Packers love elite athletes, but that generally comes with having strict size standards. Green Bay needs to ease those standards and look for someone smaller with the skills to man the role full-time.
We just saw the Kansas City Chiefs defense dominate in a Super Bowl, thanks to Trent McDuffie, who made a reasonable case for Super Bowl MVP. The Chiefs spent a first-rounder on McDuffie in 2022 and play him mostly inside. McDuffie consistently disrupted the San Francisco 49ers offense. Despite being Kansas City’s highest-targeted player, he only allowed a passer rating of 39.6.
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