GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Green Bay Packers’ oldest cornerback is 24 years old. In fact, they’re all 24 years old.
And none of them has more than two seasons of NFL experience.
That’s where the Packers are after they released Sam Shields on Wednesday. Shields’ release did not come as a surprise, and it was the only move the Packers could make with a veteran player who was scheduled to make $9 million this coming season yet had played in only two of the past 23 games, including playoffs, because of concussions.
But it’s a reminder of just what the Packers are facing at cornerback. And why they finished 31st in the NFL in passing yards allowed last season.
They have five corners on the roster who are under contract for next season — LaDarius Gunter, Damarious Randall, Quinten Rollins, Josh Hawkins and Herb Waters.
Gunter, Randall and Rollins were all part of the 2015 rookie class, while Hawkins and Waters were in the 2016 class. All but Randall and Rollins were undrafted.
The Packers probably got as much out of Gunter as could have been expected last season given his relative inexperience. He played just 10 snaps on defense as a rookie in 2015 only to become their No. 1 cornerback — by default — this past season. He led the cornerback position in playing time in 2016 with more than 1,000 snaps. And there’s always the chance he could develop into the next Shields or Tramon Williams — both undrafted players who became standout starters.
But the Packers drafted Randall and Rollins in the first and second rounds, respectively, in 2015 to be their cornerbacks of the future. And, barring an unexpected marquee veteran signing in free agency, the future is now. Both battled injuries last season but even before Randall and Rollins got banged up, they were inconsistent at best.
“I think when you look at the young men that you just referred to, they did a lot of good things in their first year,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said shortly after the season. “We have a long history here in the last 11 years of first-year players making a big jump in their second year, so you have to factor that into those types of decisions. And those guys, both Randall and Q. Rollins, had multiple injuries to deal with, too. It was a tough go at the cornerback position. I thought [cornerbacks coach] Joe Whitt did a tremendous job getting those guys ready. We just really never had any consistency as far as who we were playing with in multiple weeks. Obviously Gunter gave us the most consistent play in his time, and he deserves a lot of credit for that.”
Randall recorded three interceptions in 10 regular-season games; he missed six others because of groin surgery. But he also saw his playing time reduced at points during the season even when available.
Rollins was fortunate to avoid a major injury when he landed on his head and sustained a neck injury plus a concussion in the regular-season finale.
“I think both those guys will definitely grow for their experience this year,” McCarthy said, “because they both had a lot of adversity that they had to deal with.”
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