The Green Bay Packers won’t have veteran cornerback Nate Hobbs, one of their marquee free-agent signings in 2025, available for the rest of training camp.
According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, Hobbs underwent knee surgery on Saturday to “address a meniscus tear in his right knee” that will sideline him for the rest of the team’s 2025 training camp. He had missed Friday’s practice with a new injury.
Demovsky added that Hobbs “could return in time for Green Bay’s regular-season opener” when the Packers host the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field on September 7.
The Packers signed Hobbs to a four-year, $48 million contract in March’s free agency period and have been counting on the 26-year-old veteran to play a featured role on defense as one of their starting cornerbacks for the 2025 season. He started 31 games and appeared in 51 for the Las Vegas Raiders over the first four seasons of his career.
Now, with Hobbs’ status for Week 1 uncertain, the Packers must spend the rest of camp evaluating their other options and exploring ways to bolster their thin cornerback room.
Nate Hobbs Wanted to Address Injury ‘Right Away’
According to Demovsky, a source told him that Hobbs could have played with his knee injury, but he “ran the risk of making the injury worse” if he did not undergo surgery to clean up the issue. Instead, after hearing his options, the veteran cornerback decided to get the surgery “right away” and put himself on a track to return as soon as possible.
“I get paid to do this, so anything that’s a concern on my body, I need to try to get on right away,” Hobbs said Tuesday in the locker room. “I felt like it was something we needed to do. They gave me the option of whether I wanted to do it the next day or the day after, I’m like, ‘We can do this today. Let’s get ahead of starting to get back.'”
Hobbs said he will now dive into “attacking” his rehabilitation and focus on getting back on the field for the Packers in time for Week 1’s season opener. The Packers, however, have given no indication just yet about when they expect Hobbs will return to the field.
“I’m not going to put a timetable on it,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said Tuesday. “We’re hoping to get him back here sooner than later.”
Will Carrington Valentine Start in Nate Hobbs’ Place?
The Packers will have roughly a month to evaluate Hobbs’ recovery and decide whether he is healthy enough to start for them in Week 1’s opener against the Lions. If he is not ready by September 7, though, Carrington Valentine could get the starting nod instead.
Valentine has played in all but two games for the Packers over the past two seasons and made 19 starts for their defense. Coming into 2025, he projects as their top rotational cornerback on the outside behind Hobbs and Keisean Nixon, but Hobbs’ injury could bump him into the starting lineup and force the Packers to test their cornerback depth.
The problem is, if Hobbs is not ready and Valentine starts in Week 1, the Packers won’t have the sturdiest cornerback depth in place. They will likely trust second-year safety Javon Bullard in the slot cornerback role again in 2025, but they are still trying to figure out which of their other cornerbacks will work as backups/reserves on the perimeter.
Seventh-round rookie Micah Robinson and Kalen King — whom the Packers drafted in the seventh round in 2024 — are two of the top candidates to make the 53-man roster behind Nixon, Hobbs and Valentine, but neither one has played a regular-season snap.
The Packers also re-signed veteran cornerback Corey Ballentine on Monday for depth, but whether they can trust him to play extensive defensive snaps remains in question.
