GREEN BAY, Wis. -- With free agency a month away, it's a good time to take a look at who the Green Bay Packers have returning and what they might need to add this offseason at each position.
Cornerback
Under contract for 2017: Damarious Randall, Quinten Rollins, LaDarius Gunter, Josh Hawkins, Herb Waters, Makinton Dorleant, Demetri Goodson
Free agents: Micah Hyde (cornerback/safety, unrestricted)
Position review: When training camp opened last summer, the top-three cornerbacks were Sam Shields, Randall and Rollins. And the Packers couldn't have felt much better. They were getting a Pro Bowler back in Shields, who returned from a concussion, and had a pair of high draft picks in Randall (first round) and Rollins (second round) who were expected to make the Year 2 jump that coach Mike McCarthy talks about.
Six games into the season, they started Gunter and Goodson with Hyde as the slot cover man in the nickel.
Their defense never really recovered.
Shields didn't play after he sustained another concussion in the opener; he was cut on Wednesday with the "failed physical" designation. Randall and Rollins never made the jump the coaches expected and battled injuries most of the season.
When it mattered most, the Packers had Gunter, a second-year undrafted free agent, matching up against the opposing No. 1 receivers in the playoffs, and eventually it caught up to them in the NFC Championship Game loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
Position outlook: Shields' release offered little clarity; no one was counting on him to return anyway. It was only a matter of when the Packers would cut him.
McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson will have to decide if Randall and Rollins are better than what they showed last season. Gunter has potential, but his lack of speed will always make him a liability against fast receivers.
There's little chance Goodson will be ready for the start of the season after he shredded his ACL and MCL in November.
If there's a player among the group of Dorleant, Hawkins and Waters, it would be a guess at this point; none has distinguished himself.
Letting Casey Hayward walk in free agency for the three-year, $15.3 million deal he signed with the Chargers seems, in hindsight, like a mistake. But at the time, the Packers appeared set with a pair of young high draft picks.
Level of need (low, medium or high): High.
By the numbers
0: Interceptions by Gunter, who played more snaps than any other Packers cornerback in 2016.
4: Cornerbacks on the roster who entered the NFL as undrafted free agents.
31: The Packers ranking in passing yards allowed, ahead of only the Saints.