When will the Green Bay Packers see what everyone else can?
The team has made plenty of smart investments in recent years. Micah Parsons, Josh Jacobs, Xavier McKinney — all game-changers. Matthew Golden looks well on his way to joining that club. But for all of Brian Gutekunst's home runs, the early signs of this year's free agency class look like a woeful strikeout.
Green Bay handed Nate Hobbs $48 million to become the difference-maker they needed in the secondary. He's making a difference, just for all the wrong reasons.
Packers face a brutal decision on free-agent signing Nate Hobbs after another poor performance
The Packers keep rolling out the same plan and expecting different results. They signed Hobbs to add toughness and versatility to the secondary. Someone who tackles well, gets his hands to the football, and can play inside and outside.
We're yet to see that. Hobbs' return from injury relegated Carrington Valentine to the bench, but it's not working.
Hobbs earned the Packers' worst PFF coverage grade in Week 7, allowing four catches for 86 yards. He also drew a penalty, missed a tackle on Trey McBride on his second touchdown, and gave up a costly 35-yard pass on 3rd-and-14.
And his numbers don't look any better when you zoom out to the entire season. According to Felipe Reis Aceti of Sidelinr Sports, Hobbs has allowed two touchdowns and a passer rating of 120.9 in his coverage, and has been flagged for three penalties. All that while only breaking up one pass.
It leaves defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley with a blunt decision. Either play Hobbs in the slot, his best position, or bench him. All he's done is prove he isn't an outside corner.
Aaron Rodgers is up next, and he won't hesitate to target Hobbs early and often if he sees him on the boundary. Something has to change. The Packers' secondary is ice-cool water to the pass rush's red-hot fire. It doesn't matter if they can generate 27 pressures when quarterbacks can keep throwing Hobbs' way.
It's time for a change. Maybe that means making Hobbs a full-time slot corner, or perhaps it's outright benching him for Valentine. Green Bay may even need to add a veteran. Whatever it takes.
What they can't do is enter Week 8 with the same plan. Hobbs can't play on the outside, and until the Packers admit defeat on that reality, the defense will continue to fall short of its ambitious expectations.