28. Arizona Cardinals: Max Melton & Will Johnson OR Garrett Williams & Starling Thomas
To be fair, this is a significant projection. Max Melton barely played over 50 percent of the Cardinals’ snaps last season and Will Johnson is an unproven rookie. The Cardinals are undoubtedly getting the benefit of the doubt here in this ranking based on the projection of their younger guys, but if you want to rank last year’s duo of Garrett Williams and Starling Thomas, I don’t think they’d be any higher on the list.
27. Jacksonville Jaguars: Tyson Campbell & Jarrian Jones
Maybe as we reassess the cornerback position around the league when the season gets going, the Jaguars will have to factor Travis Hunter here. For the time being, it doesn’t look like Hunter is going to be the CB2 in Jacksonville, but we’ll see. Tyson Campbell has missed significant time over the last couple of seasons and isn’t playing as well as he’s proven capable of, but he’s a solid player and Jarrian Jones was impressive as a rookie with eight passes broken up.
26. Green Bay Packers: Nate Hobbs & Keisean Nixon
Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst is always the type to go after needs each offseason and try to kill them with fire. He will often spend two or three draft picks on positions of need in order to fix certain areas of a roster, but that has curiously not happened with the cornerback position. Even with the situations of Jaire Alexander, Eric Stokes, and Rasul Douglas looking obvious, this spot has been neglected. As a result, the Packers are taking a big risk on the duo of Nate Hobbs and Keisean Nixon this coming season.
25. Indianapolis Colts: Charvarius Ward & Jaylon Jones
Charvarius Ward is coming off of one of the worst seasons we’ve seen from him as a pro, but his circumstances off the field (losing a child) make that a bit more understandable. Ward left San Francisco for a change of scenery for he and his family, and I like his fit with the Colts’ secondary. Jaylon Jones has been an ascending player who has completely out-played his 7th-round draft status.