Paul Bretl | 8/8/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. — When the Packers take the field for their preseason opener against the New York Jets, it isn’t going to be Bo Melton’s first time playing a game inside Lambeau Field.
Melton has played preseason games here before and, in fact, he’s a relatively seasoned player who is about to enter his fourth NFL season and has 22 regular-season games under his belt, which includes making five starts.
But as we know, this preseason game is going to be different for Melton than anything he’s experienced at the NFL level. Melton is going to be playing cornerback for the Packers.
“I’m hyped now,” Melton said at his locker on Thursday. “I ain’t going to lie. I’m ready to see, go against somebody else, We’ve been going against the same people every week, so I’m just excited to go out there and compete with somebody else.”
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The transition for Melton from receiver to cornerback has seemed to have gone about as well as one could have hoped up to this point. That doesn’t mean it’s been perfect or that there isn’t refinement that is needed or that there’s been splash play after splash play in practices made by Melton.
For the most part, actually, his outings have been relatively quiet. But at the cornerback position, that’s a good thing. That means the quarterbacks aren’t going after him. It means he isn’t getting beaten regularly downfield or by double-moves.
Instead, Melton has often been positioned well. He utilizes the sideline to his advantage, understands where his help is, and maintains his leverage at the line of scrimmage. None of that is flashy, but it helps take away big plays.
“Knowing depths of routes, I feel like that’s where I feel comfortable,” Melton said of how his receiver background helps him at cornerback. “When I’m back there seeing people break, knowing where the breaking points of routes are, playing receiver so long, and knowing once you get past 20 yards or 15 yards, he’s got to break somewhere unless he’s running a go. That’s where I’m kind of like getting the nuances of playing corner.”
We are likely going to see quite a bit of Melton on Saturday night. Nate Hobbs is sidelined as he works his way back from a knee injury, while Keisean Nixon had a vet rest day on Thursday, and won’t see much, if any, action in the first preseason game.
During Thursday’s practice, with Hobbs and Nixon not participating, that left Melton, along with Carrington Valentine, taking the first-team reps at outside cornerback.
In Melton’s own evaluation of his play at cornerback up to this point, he acknowledged that there are still “a lot of corrections” to be made. However, he’s also surprised himself as well.
“I definitely wasn’t expecting to make tons of plays,” Melton said of his play. “I ain’t made a million of them, but I’ve made some plays. I was like, ‘OK,’ so I did surprise myself with the skills I brought to the table, I would say. It definitely was fun, just getting out there with the boys.”
In training camp practices, there is a quick familiarity that grows going up against the same offense and wide receivers each and every day. For Melton, he’s facing a Packers’ offense on a daily basis that he’s spent the better part of two years working alongside of, he knows the playbook inside and out, and perhaps even some of the tendencies of the Green Bay wideouts.
Melton downplayed having any sort of advantage against the Packers’ offense due to his familiarity with the scheme. While he did originally think that element could exist, Matt LaFleur’s usage of motion and the variety of looks he throws at defenses makes it difficult to decipher what’s coming.
Saturday’s game against the Jets will be Melton’s biggest test up to this point. It’s an unfamiliar opponent, new players, a new offensive system, and New York is going to play their starters. But Melton is confident, excited, and ready to take the field as a cornerback.
“Definitely going to be one for the books, for the first time going out there at corner,” Melton said. “Definitely confident. I’m ready to go. I feel like they have really coached me up to the point where I am now. I feel like I’m going to get better every single day. I’m going to keep stacking, keep getting better every day. I can’t control everything, so at the end of the day, I just want to go out there, be myself and play corner.”