Packers: Chandon Sullivan has been serviceable in 2021

The 2021 Green Bay Packers have been hit with the injury bug harder than any other version of the team in recent memory, and that most definitely applies to the secondary.

CB1 Jaire Alexander has missed the majority of the season with a shoulder injury and Kevin King has been in and out with various injuries. As the season has progressed and we’ve seen him get bigger roles, Chandon Sullivan has gone from being a liability to a serviceable, low-risk/high-reward type player for the Green Bay Packers.

Although he struggled mightily in his first three games of the year, Sullivan has shown some flashes in recent weeks – specifically in the Week 6 outing against the Chicago Bears.

According to Pro Football Reference, Sullivan was targeted four times and didn’t give up a single catch. In watching the film, Sullivan played the majority of this game in the slot – which is even more impressive given that Justin Fields has had a past habit of getting attached to the slot receiver.

The next week against Washington, Sullivan allowed four catches – but only gave up 18 yards. If you’re going to give up catches, this is the right way to do it.

Sullivan’s season has a Pro Football Focus grade of 58.5 so far, which ranks 78th out of 115 eligible cornerbacks. From a personal perspective, I think this grade is a bit low given that Sullivan has yet to have a game that could be classified as “atrocious”.

I’m not saying that Sullivan is the next coming of Darrelle Revis or anything like that, but I think he deserves his props for being a serviceable and mostly reliable cornerback while Alexander and King have been on the sidelines. There’s still a chunk of things that the former undrafted rookie needs to clean up, but compared to some of his outings in 2018 and 2019 – I see a vast improvement in a number of aspects of Sullivan’s game and he deserves credit for that.