On the eve of training camp, the Green Bay Packers don’t have many open spots in the starting lineup.Just look at the offense. Barring an injury, you could bet your kidney on who will be on the field and playing key roles when the season opens at Minnesota on Sept. 13. There’s a couple open spots on defense, though, that will be decided over the next month.Focusing on the cornerback position, it’s a good thing there will be more than six weeks spanning Day 1 of training camp and Game 1 of the regular season.While Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine will be the No. 1 cornerbacks on the depth chart on Wednesday, it’s anyone’s guess on who will be the No. 1 cornerbacks for the incredibly challenging showdown against the Vikings’ superb receiver corps.This won’t just be a competition. It will be a battle royale. A royal rumble. A no-hold’s barred fight to the finish.Presumably, Nixon will retain his job in the lineup. In his first season as a full-time perimeter cornerback, he finished among the NFL leaders with 17 passes defensed and finished sixth out of 101 cornerbacks in missed-tackle rate at the position. He gave up too many catches, was called for too many penalties and didn’t make enough big plays, but the good in the coaches’ eyes probably outweighs the bad. They’ll be looking for him to play better; they won’t be looking to replace him.Big Battle for Carrington ValentineValentine clearly is the vulnerable starter, with the evidence of that patently obvious last season. Valentine was a part-time player for a four-game stretch early last season, including when he played two snaps at Arizona in Week 7.In Week 17 against Baltimore, Kamal Hadden replaced Valentine for the start of the second half, only to suffer a season-ending ankle injury to usher Valentine back on the field.After a one-week experiment with former star Trevon Diggs, Valentine started and played all but one snap in the playoffs. He intercepted one pass but was charged with one touchdown in the 31-27 loss at Chicago.General manager Brian Gutekunst took a few swings at improving the cornerback competition. First, after giving up on Nate Hobbs and swallowing $12 million in dead cap to escape the final three seasons of his four-year, $48 million contract, he signed veteran Benjamin St-Juste to a two-year, $10 million contract, drafted Brandon Cisse in the second round and selected Domani Jackson in the sixth round.The competition didn’t really develop during the offseason. Valentine took most of the first-team reps with St-Juste sidelined by an injury and Cisse finding his way as a rookie.Benjamin St-Juste Has DeliveredAll bets are off now. St-Juste is healthy – at least he wasn’t placed on PUP on Monday – and Cisse will have a better grasp of the defense after learning it throughout the offseason.St-Juste is entering his sixth season in the NFL. He’s 6-foot-3, which would give the Packers a real standout – pun intended – in a cornerback room filled with players who are in the neighborhood of 5-foot-11. He’s played some high-level football at times, including last year with the Chargers.He was mostly a backup last season, averaging about 22.2 snaps per game. Including playoffs, PFF charged him with 19 completions allowed in 40 targets. Plus, he was an even better tackler than Nixon. If none of the corners are true lockdown players, going with two excellent tacklers would be appealing.The question is whether the Packers signed that version of St-Juste or the one who was charged with a passer rating of about 104 with eight touchdowns allowed, one interceptions and a total of 20 penalties during his final two seasons with the Commanders.Brandon Cisse Is Ready to CompeteCisse is obviously talented from a size-speed perspective, and the coaches in South Carolina and Green Bay appreciate his studious approach. PFF charged him with a 47.4 percent catch rate during his only season with the Gamecocks, though the 18 completions were turned into 361 yards. He intercepted one pass, gave up one touchdown and was charged with a 78.9 passer rating.Cisse, who got a smattering of first-team reps during the offseason, said at OTAs that he was going through “growing pains” but liked his trajectory.“It’s never enough. I think for me, there’s always more you can learn, so much more to grow from,” he said. “You never have it. You can think you have it, but you never have it, so it’s always a little bit further to go. So, every day, I’m taking a lot of extra tape or making sure I do extra stuff, extra walkthroughs, and trying to make sure I’m up to speed.”The question is how long will it take for Cisse to approach his ceiling, and whether the coaches are prepared to ride the rookie rollercoaster.Two More PossibilitiesThere are a couple wild cards in the competition, too. One is Hadden, who didn’t practice in the offseason and is the one cornerback who will open camp on PUP. He could be a factor in the competition if his rehab is nearing its finish line.It been a real grind.. I’ll see yall soon #HeBack pic.twitter.com/1oRlXV2nXO— Mal (@KamalHadden5) July 22, 2026“I would say this about Kamal: Kamal has made as much progress as any player that we’ve had here,” coach Matt LaFleur said after Hadden was injured. “Just to see where he’s come from to where he is now, and I think it’s totally reflective in terms of how he approached coming in the building on a daily basis. He practices the right way, he approaches it the right way. Really proud of him.”Jackson was a late-round pick for a reason – he lost his starting job at Alabama for a few games – but he was an elite high school recruit and was considered a potential first-round pick at this time last year. So, who knows, maybe everything will come together.He’ll start well down the depth chart after not practicing during the offseason. Combined, the Packers have a lot of options at cornerback. It’s a good thing they’ve got time on their side.“I love where the room is at right now,” defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said in early May, though the quote is just as true in late July. “Obviously, we acquired two new guys in the draft, and I think that’ll be good competition. But everybody right now is kind of competing for their role right now.“Roles are not defined by any means. And it’s all those groups. When you talk to any player, it’s, ‘Here’s what you’re kind of doing, here’s the role that you’re competing for.’ So, the more competition, the better to me.”SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTERAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow