Who makes the Green Bay Packers’ 2014 defensive roster?

Jun 17, 2014; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers cornerback

practices during the team

Cornerbacks

* – denotes starter(s)

Roster-Makers:

Sam Shields*
Tramon Williams*
Casey Hayward*
Davon House
Jarrett Bush

Left Out:

Demetri Goodson
Antonio Dennard
Jumal Rolle
Ryan White

Shields received his new contract this offseason, so he obviously makes the team. Hopefully he plays up to the expectations that come with it, but I don’t believe that will be an issue barring injury.

Speaking of hope, hopefully Williams is able to keep up the strong play that he rediscovered in the second-half of last season. That level of play puts him in the upper tier of corners and keeps him right with Shields in terms of the Packers’ best CB.

After losing most of last season to hamstring injuries, Hayward has been back and healthy, which is great for Green Bay and bad for opposing teams. He has been his previous-playmaking self this offseason and looks to continue at the level he exhibited during his rookie season (6 INTs).

House has once again shown himself to be a great offseason player; he just needs to show it more consistently during the regular season.

Bush seems to yearly be the bane of plenty of Packers fans, seemingly always involved in bad plays (i.e. his badly-timed, badly-angled blitz decision on Kaepernick during the winning drive in the SF-GB playoff game), but despite the memorable bad plays he has been able to step up more and more over the years (made plays against Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl, and more recently against Atlanta to help seal the game last year as prime examples). Plus, he does great on special teams, which definitely factors heavily in his value.

I’ve seen multiple people, include Goodson, on the roster in their predictions, but I still don’t believe he’ll be considered a ready-enough candidate by the time cuts come around; but seeing practice squad time is a distinct possibility. Haven’t seen much on the fronts of Dennard/White/Rolle, so that most likely means they are camp body fodder.

Before anyone asks, I did not forget about Hyde; since he has been spending his time at safety this offseason, that is where I have him listed.