No team is ever bulletproof. There are always weaknesses that the opposition tries to exploit.
As the Green Bay Packers’ season carried along, their cornerback position became weaker and weaker. As the Packers shift their focus to the offseason, they can ill afford to spend another year failing to invest in the position via the draft.
Keisean Nixon‘s play got shakier and shakier as the year progressed. By the end of it, Nixon had done more barking during the lead-up to games than actual production during said games. Yes, he had the interception that sealed Green Bay’s win against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field. Aside from that, the flaws were evident and a common occurrence on film.
None was more damning than the back-of-the-end-zone camera angle during D’Andre Swift‘s touchdown run in the playoff loss. With Swift beelining towards the goal line, Nixon was there to greet Swift at the last second. Instead of making a play on the ball or on Swift, Nixon moved aside and rolled out the red carpet for Swift to waltz into the end zone. The clip went viral, with many accusing Nixon of making a business decision.
Nixon with the business decision at the goal line pic.twitter.com/m8EjoBlp4L
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) January 11, 2026
With multiple duds to end the season, Nixon had a chance to reflect on his campaign two days after the loss to Chicago as reporters made their rounds through the locker room. Nixon’s response didn’t help his case.
“I think I played really well this year,” Nixon said. “I accomplished all my goals, like I always tell you guys, set the standard for myself. But I think I played really good this year.”
There was no follow-up on which goals he accomplished or felt he accomplished. Given how the season ended for the team and for a cornerback group that Caleb Williams torched repeatedly in the fourth quarter, Nixon’s response seemed out of touch.
As for his contract situation, with one year remaining on his deal? Nixon didn’t shy away from discussing that either.
Most likely. We’ll see. I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ll talk to my agent and stuff like that, but I love Green Bay. This is where I wanna be. I don’t really wanna go nowhere else, so we’ll see. We’ll have talks, for sure, but this is definitely where I wanna be.
Nixon wasn’t the only culprit. Fellow cornerback Carrington Valentine‘s embarrassing effort on would-be tackles was a frequent theme down the stretch.
Go back and read what local and national analysts thought about the group during training camp and the preseason. The fanbase wasn’t naive about it either. There was a long-simmering suspicion that they might be disastrously short at corner.
The Packers rolled into the season with Nixon, Valentine, and Nate Hobbs, who signed a lucrative deal after four years with the Las Vegas Raiders, a tenure marked by injuries and inconsistent play. Hobbs was good in the slot with the Raiders, but the Packers wanted him on the boundary. Injuries and more inconsistent play derailed Hobbs’ season. Behind those three were Bo Melton and Kamal Hadden, two players who both entered the season having never taken a snap at cornerback in a regular-season game.
It was clear early on that this was a group without a true No. 1 and little to no depth.
That came about mainly because the Packers have drafted just three true cornerbacks since 2022, all in the seventh round. One of those was Valentine, whom they took in the seventh round in 2023. To his credit, Valentine has blossomed into a player with starting-caliber play, but he hasn’t been completely trustworthy. That’s a solid return on investment on a late-round pick, but it’s not a definitive solution.
Outside of that, the Packers took Micah Robinson in last April’s draft in the seventh round. In October, the Tennessee Titans claimed Robinson off Green Bay’s practice squad. Kalen King was the only other cornerback the Packers drafted in the last four years, whom they selected with the 255th pick in 2024. King didn’t make the roster out of training camp and bounced around between the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals this past year.
That can not be the recipe for Brian Gutekunst moving forward.
Green Bay doesn’t have a first-round pick this year because of the Micah Parsons trade. Ironically, Parsons helped alleviate some of the pressure on the cornerbacks this year by constantly harassing opposing quarterbacks. However, once he tore his ACL, the secondary’s shortcomings were even more exposed.
The Packers will be tight with spending, given how their cap situation will likely take shape. However, if they exit this offseason having made no significant additions at cornerback, there will be uproar in Green Bay.
It’s fine to dabble in free agency, but to invest three just seventh-round picks in the last four drafts in the position is not sustainable. The group needs help. For a team that boasts constantly about having the youngest roster in the NFL, now is the time to add more youth to the cornerback room, with an instant impact option or two.