All rookies can ask for is an opportunity. That’s exactly what Carrington Valentine got on Sunday. After the Packers traded Rasul Douglas to the Buffalo Bills and put Eric Stokes on IR, Valentine, 22, got a chance to start for the fourth time in his career. The rookie out of Kentucky had to step up in a thin cornerback room and faced a tough matchup against either Cooper Kupp or Puka Nacua.
How did Valentine handle the pressure cooker on the boundary side of Lambeau Field?
Valentine was Green Bay’s best corner on Sunday. The seventh-rounder benefited from Brett Rypien throwing to the receivers he was guarding. But in almost all of those instances, Valentine made a play that would have resulted in an incomplete pass regardless of who was slinging it.
The rookie showed prowess in all areas of the game. Valentine covered the short and intermediate routes and stuff over the top. He flashed his speed and fluidity all day. Valentine sniffed out the routes he was guarding and made plays on the ball. His football IQ was off the charts. Valentine put his ability to read and react and do it quickly on display all day.
Pundits didn’t consider Valentine a particularly great of a prospect at the draft. Some sources thought that the Green Bay Packers got some value for him. But Valentine was not a highly touted prospect in general. But Brian Gutenkunst targets athletes in the late rounds, and Valentine was really athletic coming out of Kentucky.
Valentine was praised as a well-built corner with room to grow. The rookie was heralded as a corner who could play in various coverages and has good ball skills breaking up passes. The knocks on him were his lack of juice to keep up with receivers, his low interception numbers, and his tendency to bite on double moves.
Valentine is living up to that description.
In the run game, Valentine does a great job of affecting the play and swerving blockers. Valentine gets low and actually slides to get an angle on the runner. These are incredibly athletic plays for a young corner to make.
Looks to me like Valentine has no problem being aggressive in the run game. He made an impressive physical play on the screen pass above. Even if Nacua catches this pass, Valentine would have immediately leveled him.
Valentine was also playing tight coverage downfield all day. Tutu Atwell had a chance to catch the pass above, but Valentine’s closing speed and break-up ability made sure the pass was incomplete. Valentine does a great job of reading Atwell’s body language to determine that the route was coming back toward the quarterback, which allowed Valentine to make a break on the ball. The other play toward the sideline would have yielded a similar result.
To cap off his impressive day, Valentine almost collected his first NFL interception. However, he couldn’t quite reel it in. In reality, this is a double negative play for Valentine. If Preston Smith doesn’t tip that ball, Kupp probably picks up a first down after beating Valentine in zone coverage. Either way, Valentine was upset.
Valentine’s teammates had high praise for the rookie. “37 played like a top-tier corner in the league,” said All-Pro Jaire Alexander. “That’s exciting to see. He’ll continue to do that because that’s his standard now. We’ve seen it in camp. He’s young, he’s hungry, he wants to make plays. He wants to be the best, and I can’t be more happy than to play alongside somebody like that.”
High praise from a respected locker room leader like Alexander is great news for the rookie. To have confidence and trust from a player and a teammate like Alexander can go a long way for the confidence of a young player. Of course, Valentine already had plenty of confidence.
With Douglas gone and Stokes’ status uncertain, Valentine will continue to log big minutes for the Packers’ defense. The seventh-round pick is providing a heck of a return on investment in his first year. But don’t just take my word for it.
“Not too bad for a seventh-round pick, huh?”
Valentine knows it too.
More must-reads: