You’d be hard-pressed to find a Green Bay Packers fan who doesn’t think the team needs to add at cornerback in some capacity this offseason. The Packers don’t have a first-round pick this year, but if they opt to go cornerback early, Texas A&M’s Will Lee III would be a perfect fit.
Green Bay shies away from smaller cornerbacks. The Packers may not state it explicitly, but it’s evident in their decisions over the years. Lee has the ideal frame that Green Bay prefers at 6’1”, 190 lbs. The word that crops up again and again in his profiles is “athletic.”
While they’ll never admit it, Green Bay gets giddy over prospects with a high Relative Athletic Score. Therefore, it’s no coincidence that the Packers have often drafted tons of prospects with off-the-chart RAS scores. A 6’1” cornerback like Lee, who leans heavily on his athleticism, will be hard for Green Bay to ignore.
On top of Lee being a fit for Green Bay for the type of cornerbacks it prefers, he’s also a fit in new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s system.
Gannon has shifted to far more quarters coverage in recent seasons. If that trend continues, Lee would be a seamless fit. Lee is better in man than in zone coverage, but has struggled at times in press coverage. In a quarter’s defense, Lee would be playing off-ball on the boundary, reading and reacting to opposing wide receivers and closing in on them.
Lance Zierlein of NFL.com noted Lee’s ability to shine more in man coverage.
Boundary cornerback with good length and catch-disruption but inconsistent instincts in coverage. Lee is better in man coverage than he is in zone, but he can handle both. Pure speed can break away from him, so he’ll need help on the roof as a pro. He has the length and timing to make plays on the football. However, he needs to play with more anticipation to match breaks and trigger more quickly from depth.
The Packers need a cornerback who can make some sort of immediate impact. They don’t need to grab a lottery ticket in the seventh round and call it a strong investment at the position. They must commit to making the cornerback room substantially better. Lee wouldn’t catapult to the No. 1 spot on the depth chart immediately, but he’s the type of prospect who could see playing time immediately.
NFL.com has Lee labeled as a good backup with the potential to develop into a starter. The Packers won’t select until 52nd overall, unless they trade up. So, getting that type of player at a position of need would be a win.
General manager Brian Gutekunst caught everyone’s attention in early February when he backed Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine‘s play.
We had some injuries there. Obviously, Hobbs was missed for most of the season, never really got going. I thought Carrington stepped in and did a great job. … He’s a young player who’s still getting better. Keisean had a very, very good year. I think he was in the top three in (pass breakups) and did some really good things. Do we need wholesale changes? No. I do think it’s an area — those guys can get hurt. They’re the smaller guys on the field. We ask a lot of those guys in run support. The depth there, for me, is important that we have answers.
Then again, it would’ve been more strange if he threw them under the bus. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that, despite what Gutekunst said about not needing wholesale changes at cornerback, change will be coming nonetheless. It has to.
The depth Gutekunst speaks of can come from Lee. He checks a lot of the boxes the Packers usually look to fill at cornerback. Could Lee be better against the run? Yes. Does he get a little too grabby in press coverage? Yes. Does every prospect have some flaws that they must work on? Absolutely.
Will Lee’s frame, athleticism, and ready-to-play projection make him a great fit in Green Bay.
