The Green Bay Packers' challenge just became a lot tougher. They will enter their season opener without free-agent signing Nate Hobbs. He missed the entire preseason with a knee injury and isn't quite ready to return.
They must find a way to slow down arguably the deepest receiving corps in the league, with the Detroit Lions bringing Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Sam LaPorta to town. And let's not forget about rookie Isaac TeSlaa, who is slipping under the radar.
Green Bay will likely start Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine at outside corner, which puts Javon Bullard in the slot. The Packers have backup cornerbacks Bo Melton and Kamal Hadden, and they also elevated rookie Micah Robinson from the practice squad. Yeah, there's not a whole lot of experience behind the starters.
Full list of Packers inactives for Week 1 includes Nate Hobbs, but Micah Parsons will play
Hobbs is out, but as expected, Micah Parsons will play. Here are the Packers' inactives for Week 1:
- CB Nate Hobbs
- S Zayne Anderson
- OL Donovan Jennings
- TE Ben Sims
- DL Warren Brinson
- DL Barryn Sorrell
Green Bay needs Parsons and the pass rush to ease the pressure on the secondary, which already had tough questions at cornerback before Hobbs' absence.
The good news is that all three injured wide receivers — Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, and rookie Savion Williams — are active. It gives Green Bay a deep receiving corps to throw at the Lions' defense. When they're not running the ball with Josh Jacobs, they can lean on those three, plus first-rounder Matthew Golden, Romeo Doubs, and tight end Tucker Kraft.
But the Hobbs injury is notable. The Packers lost a lot of cornerback depth in the offseason, especially after releasing Jaire Alexander. Hobbs' arrival was supposed to help fix that, but his debut will have to wait for at least four more days.
The Packers will need a complete performance to slow down the Lions' offense, but losing Hobbs is a tough blow to this secondary.