The Green Bay Packers have a grand total of two interceptions through six games, one of which came via an arm punt by Joe Flacco in Week 3. Only four teams have fewer than two interceptions this year. For comparison’s sake, the Chicago Bears lead the league with 11 through six games.
There are a few reasons to explain their lack of turnovers through the air, but perhaps the most notable one is that Green Bay doesn’t have a ballhawk at cornerback.
Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs, and Carrington Valentine are propping up Green Bay’s cornerback room. It was mainly Nixon and Hobbs this past week in Arizona, with Valentine bizarrely only getting two snaps on defense.
If you win the turnover battle, you’ll win a lot of games in the NFL. Or at least that’s what coaches constantly harp about. Thankfully for the Packers, despite forcing only two interceptions this season, the offense has turned the ball over only three times.
Ask Jeff Hafley or Matt LaFleur, and they’ll say what they’ve said all along: The takeaways will eventually come, but opposing quarterbacks are playing it safe and getting rid of it quickly to avoid Green Bay’s disruptive defensive front.
It’s a theory that certainly holds some water, but it doesn’t tell the entire story. Look at some of Green Bay’s past cornerbacks and compare them with the top three on the depth chart this year. There’s a glaring number that sticks out in the interception department.
To be a ballhawk, you don’t need to be an All-Pro. Some All-Pro cornerbacks are ballhawks by nature; it’s a trait they possess. But not all ballhawks at the position are All-Pro or even Pro Bowl-caliber players.
Look at Green Bay’s history.
Everyone loved Tramon Williams. He spent 10 total seasons in Green Bay, including the first eight of his career. In 159 games played with the Packers, Williams piled up 30 interceptions. That’s around one pick every five games.
Williams was never an All-Pro and, despite having a solid career, only made one Pro Bowl. He was a ballhawk, though, and there’s no doubt about that.
Who remembers Sam Shields? The cornerback out of Miami with blazing speed who played with an abundant amount of confidence? Like Williams, Shields spent a long time in Green Bay, including the first seven years of his career.
Shields hung his hat on two things at the cornerback spot: his speed and ability to pluck a pass from the opposing quarterback. In 80 career games with the Packers, Shields amassed 18 interceptions. That’s about one interception every 4.5 games.
For a more recent example, take Rasul Douglas. A practice squad scoop-up, Douglas turned into a gem of a find by general manager Brian Gutekunst back in 2021. Not afraid to jaw with the other team, Douglas often backed it up with timely interceptions. Across 36 games in nearly three seasons in Green Bay, Douglas had 10 interceptions and took two of them back to the house. That’s one interception about every 3.5 games.
Now consider the current cast.
Nixon has played 97 games at defensive back in his career, 57 with Green Bay. He has three total interceptions. That’s about one interception every 32 games, and one every 19 since joining the Packers.
Hobbs is in his first season in Green Bay. Counting the five games with the Packers, Hobbs has played 56 in his career. He has three career interceptions, or about one every 18 games.
Finally, there’s Valentine, who has spent his entire career in Green Bay. In 38 games, Valentine has two interceptions, one every 19 games.
Nixon does a lot of things very well at the cornerback spot. Hobbs is still adjusting to being on the boundary full-time. Valentine has emerged as a solid starting cornerback despite being a seventh-round selection. All three have good traits for a cornerback, but none of them are ballhawks.
Nixon has never had more than one interception in a season. Neither has Hobbs. Valentine has two career interceptions, both of which occurred in 2024.
For comparison purposes, Williams had six years with at least three interceptions in a Packers uniform, matching the achievements of Nixon and Hobbs in their careers. Shields had four such seasons with at least three interceptions, while Douglas had five in just 12 games for the Packers in 2021 and four in 2022.
I’m not raining on the parade of the current trio in Green Bay. I’m also not suggesting that just because none of them have ever been a ballhawk that things will go south for the group. Nixon, Hobbs, and Valentine all do some things very well at cornerback. It’s just time to stop pretending that any of the three are going to solve the interception problem for the defense. That’s never been who any of them are.
Part of the equation is that Green Bay’s fierce defensive front is forcing opposing quarterbacks to get the ball out quickly, thus limiting the deep shots and the risky passes that a cornerback room can prey on.
But there’s no overlooking the fact that Nixon, Hobbs, and Valentine have never been cornerbacks who pick the ball off at a high rate. The sample size is large enough at this point that we shouldn’t expect that to change.
As the season carries on, there’s an inherent faith that Hafley will get this defense to generate more takeaways. There’s way too much talent to think otherwise. However, don’t expect a large number of interceptions from the cornerback room. It’s not part of their game, but that doesn’t mean this thing can’t work really well.
