Green Bay Packers: Chandon Sullivan Primary ‘Star’ CB Early On

One of the big question marks surrounding this year’s Green Bay Packers team entering the summer programs was, who is going to emerge as the team’s primary ‘star’ cornerback?

As Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry told reporters during OTAs and mini-camp, in today’s NFL, “you better have a great nickel or star corner.”

"“It’s a unique position because you’ve got to be able to play man, you’ve got to be able to play zone,” said Joe Barry to reporters via Packers.com. “And when I say zone, you’ve got to be able to play like a linebacker almost. You’ve got to be involved in the run game and the run fits. We’ll ask our nickel to be involved in the pressure package, so it’s a unique position, but we’ve got a bunch of guys that are learning it just like they’re learning every aspect of the back end.”"

Earlier this summer, defensive backs coach Jerry Gray mentioned that entering mini-camp, the team had a handful of players that they were looking at to fill the slot corner role, and their hope was the whittle that number down to one or two by the time the regular season began.

My guess is that this group of potential candidates included Darnell Savage, who saw his fair share of snaps in the slot last season. Jaire Alexander also could see an increase in nickel snaps just as Jalen Ramsey did in 2020 in the Brandon Staley/Vic Fangio defense. And of course, Chandon Sullivan, who was the team’s primary ‘star’ corner last season.

I’d also throw Will Redmond, Shemar Jean-Charles, and perhaps Adrian Amos sees some opportunities there as well.

However, while training camp is only a week old, as noted by Larry McCarren of Packers.com, one player in particular has taken a bulk of the early slot corner snaps–and that player would be the incumbent, Chandon Sullivan.

"“Who will play the all-important star or nickelback position? Well, since snap one, of practice one, of training camp, it’s been, Chandon Sullivan. There’s a lot to be said for a steady eddy, who is solid game in and game out.”"

In a smaller role during the 2019 season, Sullivan impressed, allowing a completion rate of just 42 percent on 36 targets. This past season in a full-time role for the Green Bay Packers, across the board, his numbers increased–although in a larger sample size that should have been somewhat anticipated.

In 2020 specifically, Sullivan allowed a completion rate of 65 percent on 77 targets and 11.8 yards per catch. He would give up two touchdowns and come away with an interception and four pass breakups. The passer rating of opposing quarterbacks when targeting Sullivan was 91.3.

Admittedly he was picked on in the playoffs by Jared Goff and Tom Brady, who threw his way 11 times combined over those two games. Sullivan allowed seven receptions for 84 yards–however, to his credit; he was much better in the second half of the NFC Championship Game.

When comparing Sullivan’s performance in the slot to other nickel corners, he performed quite well. According to PFF ($$), he ranked 5th out of 25 eligible nickelbacks in snaps per target with 7.0. His 10.8 snaps per reception ranked second, and the 1.13 yards per snap he allowed was tied for 10th.

As I’ve mentioned on a few occasions this offseason, when this 2020 season is over, I believe that Sullivan will have taken the most snaps from the slot. With that said, I do think his overall snap count will be decreased from last season as we see more from Alexander and Savage in this role under Barry.

We are only a handful of practices into training camp, and a lot can and will change over the next month. But for the time being, it looks like the ‘star’ cornerback role on this Green Bay Packers team belongs to Sullivan, and it’s his to lose.