The Green Bay Packers swapped out an injury-prone cornerback for a durable one on Tuesday with a pair of announcements: They agreed to a two-year deal with veteran Benjamin St-Juste, while releasing Nate Hobbs with a post-June 1 designation.
St-Juste will be a depth piece at a position that needed it, but he doesn’t significantly move the needle. Green Bay should continue adding at cornerback this offseason.
Cornerback was one of the glaring weak spots for Jeff Hafley’s defense down the stretch run of the season. To be fair, having Keisean Nixon as the No. 1 cornerback felt like a gamble before the season even started. Alas, the entire group, including Carrington Valentine and Hobbs, never quite meshed.
In comes Benjamin St-Juste, who, at minimum, gives Green Bay a veteran presence, a tall frame, and plenty of availability.
St-Juste will enter his age-29 season in 2026, and he’s missed a grand total of two games combined in the last three years. Hobbs missed six games in just one season with Green Bay, but the injury bug was nothing new for Hobbs. The Packers knew the risk they were taking on in signing a player who had missed 17 games over four years with the Las Vegas Raiders due to a variety of injuries, including ankle issues and a broken hand. After just one year with the Packers, general manager Brian Gutekunst pulled the plug.
St-Juste hasn’t had those injury issues, which is a plus. And at 6’3”, he adds a much different look to the cornerback room.
The St-Juste deal offers plenty of positives. The numbers show a cornerback who thrives in zone coverage, which should fit Jonathan Gannon’s defense like a glove. Still, there’s reason to be skeptical if this is the only addition to the group.
For one, while St-Juste had his best year last season with the Los Angeles Chargers, he didn’t have a significant role. St-Juste appeared in 16 games but played just 378 snaps. That was good for only the fourth-most on the team and trailed significantly behind the likes of Tarheeb Still (832), Cam Hart (678), and Donte Jackson (629).
For perspective, remember how we mentioned all of Hobbs’ injuries and how he missed six games in Green Bay last season? St-Juste missed just one game last year and still only played 378 snaps. Hobbs played 358 in 11 games and never had a prominent role.
There’s reason to wonder if St-Juste’s most successful season occurred because he had a less full plate, or if perhaps he benefited from the Chargers’ system, which heavily relied on zone coverage over man coverage. Maybe it’s a mix of both.
Gutekunst made the case clear in February that he didn’t believe the Packers needed wholesale changes at cornerback, but they had to fill out their depth.
We had some injuries there. Hobbs missed most of the season, never really got going. I thought Carrington (Valentine) stepped in and did a great job, he’s a young player that’s still getting better. Keisean (Nixon) had a very, very good year, he was in the top three in PBUs and did some really good things. So, do we need wholesale changes? No, I do think it’s an area though that those guys can get hurt, they’re the smaller guys on the field, we ask a lot of those guys in run support, so depth there for me is important that we have answers.
St-Juste provides depth, so Gutekunst is living up to his word. But is the signing enough to elevate the CB room? That feels like a big ask for someone who occasionally struggled early in his career in Washington. He was far better with the Chargers last year, but in a much lesser role.
What St-Juste’s role will be in Green Bay isn’t defined even after the agreement on the two-year deal. What is known is that he’s a boundary corner, so nix any idea of sliding him to the slot. Does he start over Valentine? Do the Packers want him in a similar role to the one he had in Los Angeles? Gutekunst and Co. had to have some kind of vision before making the deal.
Adding Benjamin St-Juste and giving the axe to Hobbs after just one season are both fine moves. However, if this is the only shift at cornerback this offseason, plenty of fans will remain skeptical about the secondary in 2026.