While the Green Bay Packers had a decent amount of salary cap space heading into the NFL free agency period, they weren't nearly as active as most pundits thought they might be.
And they undoubtedly weren't as active as Packers fans wanted them to be.
And given some of the massive moves the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings have made thus far, that's not a good thing. We can't quite put the Detroit Lions in that same top tier, as replacing cornerback Carlton Davis III with D.J. Reed was effectively just a lateral move.
Through this first week of the new league year, Green Bay has actually lost more players than they've brought in.
While the Packers have watched running back AJ Dillon (Eagles), cornerback Eric Stokes (Raiders), defensive lineman T.J. Slaton (Bengals), center Josh Myers (Jets), linebacker Eric Wilson (Vikings), and cornerback Corey Ballentine (Colts) find new homes, the only two new players on the Green Bay roster at this point are cornerback Nate Hobbs and offensive guard Aaron Banks.
The Packers did also sign linebacker Isaiah McDuffie (two years, $8 million) and kicker Brandon McManus (three years, $15.3 million) to new deals, but that's literally all Brian Gutekunst has done at this point.
And since we already know what Green Bay's got in those two guys, let's hand out a couple of grades on Hobbs and Banks.
Packers earn poor grades after disappointing start to free agency
Nate Hobbs: C
So, let's get this straight.
With the Packers perhaps set to move on from injury-prone cornerback Jaire Alexander, their potential solution to the problem is to bring in a player in Nate Hobbs, who has missed 17 games over the past three seasons. And they're paying him an average of $12 million a year?
Yeah, that doesn't really add up nicely, does it?
To his credit, Hobbs is versatile. While generally at his best in slot coverage, he does have the ability to hit the perimeter as well. But after a solid rookie season with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021, he hasn't been the same player since.
Appearing in 16 games with nine starts in that first year, the Illinois alum earned an 80.1 overall PFF defensive grade. Over the last three seasons, however, his marks have been 60.9, 69.0, and 61.4.
Throughout his career, Hobbs has allowed catches on 75.3% of passes thrown in his direction and a passer rating of 102.1 into his coverage. Are there far worse corners in the league? Absolutely.
But Packers fans shouldn't get overly excited about the team overpaying an average player at his position, especially one who misses as much time as he does.
Aaron Banks: C-
If we're saying the Packers are overpaying Hobbs, you can go ahead and put adverbs like ridiculously, extremely, exceedingly, tremendously, significantly, or any host of others in front of that word to describe the four-year, $77 million deal they gave Aaron Banks.
Yes, the 27-year-old is coming off the best of his four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, who took the Notre Dame product with the 48th overall pick in the 2021 draft. Banks allowed just a single sack in 2024 and earned the highest overall PFF grade of his career at 65.4.
Even so, however, that mark ranked just 50th among 135 eligible offensive guards. And in his first three seasons, he received grades of 56.9, 59.5, and 52.8. And all of a sudden, he's the sixth-highest-paid player at his position?
Once again, this doesn't compute.
Given what happened in their playoff loss to the Eagles, the need for an offensive line upgrade was evident. But Banks may not have been the right choice here, especially not at that cost.