Packers Bench $48 Million Starter

Last week, the Green Bay Packers gave cornerback Nate Hobbs a vote of confidence.

On Sunday, they gave him a seat on the bench.

In a stunning development considering Hobbs was given a four-year, $48 million contract in free agency, the Packers benched him for Sunday night’s victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Carrington Valentine started in his place and played well enough that he’s probably merited another start on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.

“I think when you look at a lot of these situations, we always talk about how it’s going to be a competitive situation, and it was just that,” coach Matt LaFleur said on Monday, a day after a 35-25 win over Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers.

“A lot of it comes down to, obviously, everybody sees how you perform in a game, but what nobody sees is what we’re doing on a daily basis in practice. And so CV got an opportunity, and he went out there and I thought he played really competitively the entire game.”

Hobbs suffered a knee injury that required surgery during training camp and missed Week 1 against the Lions. He gave up a total of one catch in Week 2 against Washington and Week 3 against Cleveland, according to Pro Football Focus, but has slumped.

Against Dallas in Week 4, PFF charged him with two touchdowns. After the Week 5 bye, Hobbs gave up 4-of-5 passing against Cincinnati in Week 6. At Arizona in Week 7, he was charged with 4-of-5 for 87 yards, including the first 40-plus-yard reception allowed by Green Bay since Week 1 of last season.

“Here’s what I’ll tell you about Nate,” LaFleur said a day after the Arizona game. “Nate’s a competitive dude that takes a lot of pride in his work. He loves ball and I think he will rebound and, in the end, he’ll be better for it. …

“You have to be resilient in order to have success in this league, and that’s what I expect from him. He will bounce back.”

According to PFF, 100 corners have played at least 109 coverage snaps. Hobbs is 61st in completion percentage and 89th passer rating.

Asked on Thursday about Hobbs, defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley gave no inkling whatsoever that a lineup change was in the works.

“I think Nate’s had a really good week of practice,” Hafley said. “I’ve been around some of the best corners, whether it was (Darrelle) Revis or Ronde (Barber) or Sherm (Richard Sherman). I just talked about Sherm on a third-and-20 getting called for a hold, which cost us a free play and they go onto win the game.

“You have to have a short memory. I’m not going to lose confidence in a player; I’m just not going to do that. You’ve got to keep coaching those guys and you’ve got to keep talking to them and showing them how to improve, how to get better.”

Charitably, the Packers have not lost confidence in Hobbs, who from playing all 141 snaps the previous two weeks to just four against the Steelers. They just have more in Valentine, even though they signed Hobbs to a big contract in free agency so he could be the starter ahead of Valentine, who had two of the five interceptions by Packers cornerbacks last season.