Hey, maybe this was the Green Bay Packers’ big move at cornerback. A day after announcing they would non-tender cornerback Herb Waters, the team re-signed him.
This isn’t necessarily out of the ordinary. The Packers, in recent years, have often non-tendered controllable free agents and then re-signed them on contracts lower than they would have paid if they tendered them.
Waters is a former undrafted free agent from Miami, where he played receiver. After signing and going through camp with the Packers in 2016, Waters was converted to cornerback. He spent the entire regular season on the practice squad before being called up for the postseason.
In 2017, Waters didn’t make it through camp for the Packers. He suffered a shoulder injury that landed him on injured reserve in August.
So what do the Packers have with Waters? Maybe the next Sam Shields?
We wouldn’t jump to that conclusion. Waters is still a very unknown commodity, with only one real year playing cornerback. He does have potential, though. We’ll now have to hope that he realizes it.
The other players the Packers non-tendered were linebacker Joe Thomas, punter Jake Schum and long snapper Taybor Pepper. Of those, the only other player who has a chance of returning is probably Thomas. Although, his decreased playing time in 2017 vs. 2016 seems to suggest that won’t happen.