Packers sign CB Rasul Douglas off Cardinals practice squad

The Green Bay Packers made a move at cornerback, but not the one you heard about this morning. Shortly after the Carolina Panthers traded for New England Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore, who Sports Illustrated’s Alber Breer claimed wanted to play in Green Bay, the Packers picked up cornerback Rasul Douglas off of the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad.

Douglas, who is in Green Bay today practicing with the team, was originally a third-round pick made by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017. He was waived during final cuts in 2020, was picked up by the Carolina Panthers, and has played in 60 total NFL regular-season games in his career. 29 of those were starts, including 11 last season, his career-high.

2021 has been a long ride for the 6’2” corner, making Green Bay his fourth stop after stints with the Las Vegas Raiders, Houston Texans, and Arizona Cardinals.

According to Pro Football Focus, the highest-graded cornerbacks against “80.0+ graded” receivers per their grading system in 2020 were Jamel Dean, Xavier Rhodes, and Douglas. At this point, the assumption should be that Douglas will need some time to learn the Packers’ system, but that he could be competing with Isaac Yiadom, the team’s fourth outside cornerback, for playing time through the later stretch of the season.

Due to the fact that he was a signing off of a practice squad, Douglas will count against the Green Bay Packers’ active roster for three weeks, no matter if he’s on the roster or not. That is enough of an incentive to essentially ensure that Douglas will be on the team for that period of time, at the very least.