The Green Bay Packers have some questions at the cornerback position, making four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marshon Lattimore a potential trade target for the franchise.
With training camp nearing, Alex Ballentine with Bleacher Report made some bold predictions around the NFL before players start reporting. One of those predictions was the New Orleans Saints trading Lattimore.
Ballentine named the Packers, along with a few other teams, as trade destinations.
“…any team that trades for him before then would be on the hook for [Lattimore’s] bonus,” Ballentine wrote. “That’s an unusual detail that could signal the Saints have been thinking about a trade for a while…Multiple teams with cap space should be interested in Lattimore, including the 49ers, Packers and Vikings.”
It’s a hefty price tag for a player in the middle of a $97 million contract. But it could give the Packers another star to pair with Jaire Alexander.
Marshon Lattimore’s Impressive Resume
Lattimore has spent his entire football career with sky-high expectations. He’s lived up to the hype wherever he’s gone.
Coming out of Cleveland, Ohio, Lattimore was a 4-star recruit and high school All-American. He decided to play for an elite program in Ohio State to showcase his talents, and he did exactly that.
Although he didn’t become a full-time starter until his final season in 2016, Lattimore lived up to the hype. He was named first-team All-Big Ten with nine pass breakups and four interceptions in 13 games.
NFL scouts kept a close eye on Lattimore, and he did enough in the pre-draft process to go 11th overall in 2017 to the Saints. He immediately brought in accolades, earning Defensive Rookie of the Year honors and a Pro Bowl nod in his first season.
Lattimore has continued to live up to his first-round billing since then. He’s been named a Pro Bowler four times and logged 15 interceptions with 86 pass breakups over seven seasons.
Although injuries have forced Lattimore to miss 17 games over the last two years, he continues to play at a high level when healthy. Pro Football Focus had opposing quarterbacks post a passer rating of just 58.9 and 77.9 in 2022 and 2023 respectively when targeting Lattimore.
It’s clear that Lattimore can still play at a high level. If the Saints are ready to move on for younger talent, teams will be quick to listen to trade offers for the four-time Pro Bowler.
Green Bay Seems Confident at Cornerback
A player like Lattimore would be exciting for the Packers. However, the team seems confident in what they have at cornerback right now.
The Packers elected not to draft a cornerback until their final pick in this year’s draft. When asked about the corner position following the draft, head coach Matt LaFleur backed up his players.
“First of all, we have a lot of confidence in those guys, anyways,” LaFleur explained to reporters.
Jaire Alexander will be the team’s star cornerback as long as he stays healthy. He’s currently the highest-paid corner in the league. Still, one cornerback can only do so much without help from his teammates.
Keisean Nixon will likely start in the slot, but it’s the other outside corner position that the coaches will keep an eye on. Eric Stokes is a former first-round pick who has been battling injuries for the last couple of seasons. He could be a legitimate starter if healthy, but Carrington Valentine showed serious flashes as a late-round rookie this past season.
Look for the Packers to make a decision between Stokes and Valentine at some point during training camp.
