With the chance to turn a good team into a great one, the Green Bay Packers were aggressive with a series of moves. General manager Brian Gutekunst took the challenge head-on by trading for Micah Parsons last August. However, his attempts to dive into free agency to solve his problems have come up short-handed this season.
While many have been on Aaron Banks for his failures along the offensive line, the Packers have also had their share of issues with Nate Hobbs. Signed to a four-year, $48 million contract with $16 million guaranteed, Hobbs was supposed to be one of the top cornerbacks on Jeff Hafley’s defense, but all he has earned so far is a seat on the bench.
With Hobbs struggling to get on the field in Monday night’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, it was another chance for his replacement, Carrington Valentine, to step up. After Valentine turned in another strong performance, it was another sign of just how big a mistake the Hobbs contract was and how the Packers would have been better served spending that money somewhere else.
Carrington Valentine’s Rise Could Cost Nate Hobbs His Job in Green Bay
One of the incumbents from last offseason’s overhaul, Valentine has been a pleasant surprise this season. On Monday night, he continued his emergence, allowing one catch for seven yards against the trio of Eagles’ receivers, according to Pro Football Focus. Four of those targets came against DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown, with the lone catch going to Brown. Valentine also turned in a solid 79.4 overall PFF grade to be Green Bay’s second-highest-rated defender on the night behind defensive end Baryn Sorrell, who had an 84.8 overall grade on just eight snaps.
For the season, Valentine has been just as good, allowing 17 catches for 184 yards and three touchdowns with three pass breakups. It’s a steady improvement for the third-year cornerback, whose career started with a 57.5 overall grade in his rookie season in 2023 and watched it rise to 70.3 last season and 74.5 this season.
With a steady trajectory pointing upward, it’s easy to see Valentine’s development as a positive thing moving forward. There is also a downside, though, when you consider how much the Packers invested in Hobbs. The 26-year-old did not play in Monday’s loss due to a knee injury, but his snap count had been tilting toward Valentine over the past several weeks, dropping from 76 snaps in a Week 7 win over the Arizona Cardinals to just 23 snaps combined over Weeks 8 and 9.
On the season, Hobbs has allowed 14 catches for 202 yards, two touchdowns and a pass breakup on 22 targets and it’s becoming a possibility that Green Bay will try to find a way to get his $13.05 million cap hit for 2026 according to Over The Cap off the books via release or trade next year. In fact, the Packers may already be making another move to compensate for it if they can convince Asante Samuel Jr. to sign with the team in the coming days.
It makes Valentine the one who is exposing the Packers’ biggest mistake, and he could make them really pay for it if they decide to move on from Hobbs this offseason.