The Green Bay Packers elected to trade starting CB Rasul Douglas to the Buffalo Bills just before the 2023 NFL trade deadline. Even having been gone for a week already, he has still logged the most defensive snaps for the team this season.
The Douglas trade has thrust rookie seventh-round pick Carrington Valentine into a starting role, having played 100 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in two of their last three games. Going into Sunday’s bout against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he understands the challenge ahead in WR George Pickens and seems to believe he’s ready for it.
“He’s physical, a competitor”, he told reporters on Wednesday when asked about his assessment of the second-year wide receiver, via the team’s website. “I’m a physical person, I’m a competitor, so I feel like it’s gonna be a show”.
At 6-0 and 189 pounds, Valentine is roughly average in size for the cornerback position today, but outside of Jaire Alexander and Keisean Nixon, that’s really all the Packers have at the position right now. Former first-round pick Eric Stokes has spent nearly the entire year on the Reserve/Injured List and is already on his second stint there, this time for a hamstring injury. He will not be available for activation in time for Sunday’s game against the Steelers.
As far as the other side of the ball goes, you may be aware that Pickens has not been at his best lately, as much off the field, figuratively, as on it. He caught two passes last week and lost yardage. Of course, he had a golden opportunity to reel in a touchdown pass only to step out of bounds with his second foot, which appeared to have been avoidable easily enough.
But there are few athletes in the game today capable of making the plays that Pickens can. He is a back-shoulder machine, for one thing, and when he and QB Kenny Pickett have a connection firing, it can be hard to stop.
He does have 30 catches for over 500 yards and three touchdowns so far this season, so it’s not as though he has been sitting around doing nothing. His body language might be awful when he’s not being fed targets, but he’s just trying to make plays.
Depending on how they line up, Pickens will be looking to feast on Valentine this Sunday, making that a rather one-sided show. It’s been a couple weeks since we’ve seen much in the way of fireworks from him, his too-little-too-late touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars notwithstanding.
