But left the door open for him to compete at outside cornerback, too (pay difference was about $6 million per on last year’s market, they had moved Keisean Nixon from slot to outside cornerback prior). They ended up needing an outside cornerback a lot more than a slot, since Javon Bullard took over the slot role and Evan Williams was a safety full-time.
All three of Green Bay’s guys were below average last year (had decent stretches but also bad stretches). Hobbs dealt with several injuries, and people kind of question if he was ever even 100 percent at all last year. Now that their slot situation is answered with Bullard moving forward, they let him go (almost no cap savings immediately but saved cash that will split over two years. He had a $6.5 million roster bonus due early this offseason, which is why Green Bay made the move (even though they don’t need the immediate cap space). He’s probably a slot. He was better there with the Raiders and did better there in Green Bay in the limited snaps where he wasn’t playing outside for the defense. Rotated with Valentine for stretches until his last knee injury here.