Green Bay Packers made the inevitable move yesterday releasing Sam Shields, their former star cornerback. Packers owed Shields nine million dollars next season, and the player still had concussion-like symptoms five months after his last one suffered in the first game of the season causing him to miss all of 2016. This is a big loss for Green Bay. And you hope Shields will recover fully and get his head right for the rest of his life, not just his career. Packers need to explore all options in their secondary.

One thing Green Bay shouldn’t do is waste a high draft pick on a cornerback. The secondary is already too young. There’s no need to replace Shields with another corner unless it’s the best player on the board and a can’t-miss where it makes less sense to not draft said player.. Even so, it starts to look Green Bay is hoarding young corners hoping they pan out, and that’s not the best look for the team. This is a corner-heavy draft and many of them could fit Packers roster. Further, Green Bay should look at the defensive backfield when the fourth and fifth round roll around this May.

Packers need to look to the free agency pool and bring in a veteran that can help stabilize this young group. Like Bob McGinn said yesterday, it’s pointless to target free agents at this point of the offseason. We’ll know the full pool come March 5th, and that’s when we can have a discussion on what might be a realistic option for the team. If Green Bay doesn’t get a corner, Ted Thompson once again put his team in a losing position and will repeat the failures of the last couple years.