Green Bay Packers: Ranking the top five offseason needs

1. Cornerback

No position is of greater need for the Packers than at cornerback. Sam Shields’ season-ending injury in September led to a negative snowball effect in the secondary, similar to the wide receiver position following Jordy Nelson’s injury in 2015.

Shields was easily Green Bay’s best corner, and his injury proved too much to overcome. Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins, the Packers’ top two picks in the 2015 NFL Draft, were hit hard by the injury bug, both players regressing from encouraging rookie campaigns. Fellow second-year LaDarius Gunter, undrafted in 2015, proved to be the team’s best corner for much of the season.

The Packers won’t give up on their young corners. Randall and Rollins need to get healthy and step up in their third year, just as Davante Adams did at receiver.

They can’t afford to bank on these young corners improving, however, and must add talent at the position. Should Ted Thompson opt for the (unlikely) free agency route, names like Prince Amukamara and Trumaine Johnson could come into play.

Next: Packer Perspective: The offseason blueprint

That isn’t Thompson’s style, and he’ll likely dive into the draft’s talented group of corners.