The Green Bay Packers have made it clear that they’re not throwing good money after bad — at least when it comes to one of the team’s big free agent signings from a year ago. General manager Brian Gutekunst has made the somewhat shocking decision to release cornerback Nate Hobbs after signing him to a four-year, $48 million contract just one year ago.
Hobbs came to Green Bay from the Las Vegas Raiders, where he had largely played in the slot for his first four seasons. However, the Packers seemed
intent on making him into a boundary corner, a position where he appeared to be miscast. Hobbs ended up missing some time due to injuries as well, as he played in just 11 games last year with five starts. He played just 358 total snaps on defense, allowing a passer rating of 111.1 (according to Pro Football Reference) with no interceptions and just two pass breakups.
Hobbs’ deal came with a $16 million signing bonus, and the Packers will have to absorb the remaining $12 million of that bonus that was scheduled to be applied to the cap over the next three years. ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reports that the release will be classified as a post-June 1st cut, which means that Green Bay will carry Hobbs’ full $12.8 million salary cap charge until June 1st. After that point, $4 million will remain on the 2026 cap, with the remaining $8 million hitting the team’s cap in 2027.
The time frame for this decision was forced in large part by a $6.25 million roster bonus that Hobbs was due on Friday. Clearly that is a number that the team was clearly unwilling to pay for a player who massively underperformed in his only season with the team. Furthermore, Hobbs’ role in the slot was questionable thanks to Javon Bullard’s improvement at that spot last season, while Tuesday’s signing of Benjamin St-Juste gives the team more depth at boundary corner.
