GREEN BAY, Wis. — Demetri Goodson spent last season going up against one of the NFL’s best wide receivers and winning his fair share of battles. No, the Green Bay Packers’ then-rookie cornerback was never given any defensive snaps in a game, but his showdowns in practice with Jordy Nelson gave Goodson all the confidence he needed moving forward.

Those experiences helped prepare Goodson for the opportunities he’s been getting during organized team activities. With Casey Hayward sidelined due to a foot injury, Goodson is playing with the starting defense at outside cornerback opposite Sam Shields.

Though the expectation is it will still be Hayward’s job to lose once he returns, Goodson is trying to make the most of it.

"Having an opportunity to start right now is big for me," Goodson said. "I can’t let this pass me up. The window of opportunity is small in this league. This is my time to shine right now. I’m going to do whatever I can to keep my spot."

Last season, while Shields, Hayward and now-ex-Packers Tramon Williams and Davon House battled for game snaps at outside cornerback, Goodson’s repetitions were more about him learning. He finished his college career playing football at Baylor, but before that Goodson was chasing his basketball dreams as a point guard for Gonzaga.

Green Bay knew it would take time to get Goodson game-ready in the NFL, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that the team limited him to just special teams as a rookie.

After putting in a year of work and training with the Packers, Goodson believes he’s ready to make the next step in his progression as a cornerback.

"I feel like I’ve come a long way," he said. "One thing that was hard for me last year was I didn’t know the plays that well, so I wasn’t able to play as fast as I’m playing now. That basically was, like, the main part for me was getting the playbook down and just getting comfortable.

"Coming back for my second year, I just feel a lot more comfortable. I know what to do now, so I’m able to play fast."

The regular season is three months away, and more practice time would seem ideal for a player who’s still relatively raw. But Goodson is eager to display his progress.

"I feel like if I got thrown in there right now that I’d be ready," Goodson said.

However, cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt isn’t so sure about that.

"There’s a lot of work to do before he’s ready to play," Whitt said of Goodson.

Whitt wasn’t entirely flippant about Goodson, noting that "he’s come a long way."

Whitt’s likely intended goal of motivating him is a technique that rings more positive than negative in Goodson’s mind.

"I feel like he’s hard on me because he knows the type of player I am," Goodson said of his relationship with Whitt. "He saw me last year in practice balling out, so he knows how good I can actually be."

In the classroom throughout the 2014 season, Goodson would often find himself on Whitt’s bad side.

"I was, like, the only one in the room who didn’t really know what was going on, so Joe would kill me last year," Goodson said. "But now it’s all these guys’ turn, all these guys that just got here. He doesn’t really yell at me too much now because I don’t mess up too much; not as much as I did last year with the plays and stuff. It’s been cool so far."

That group of new cornerbacks includes Green Bay’s first two picks from the 2015 draft, Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins. It’s still early, but Goodson has the edge on both of them right now on the depth chart. Randall is lined up outside with the No. 2 defense, and Rollins is playing the slot.

"Every day I come out here, I try to outwork everybody," Goodson said. "At this level, everybody is good, everybody is talented, so you have to find your small things to do to stand out on tape. Whether that’s running to the ball or just staying late, showing up early, stuff like that."

Head coach Mike McCarthy has seen what Goodson has done recently, both live in practice and then again on tape. Like Whitt, McCarthy sees improvement, but also a work in progress.

"I think at corner he’s still learning more of not what to do but the identification and what the guy on the other side of the line of scrimmage is doing," McCarthy said. "He’s definitely making progress. Extremely competitive and obviously an excellent athlete. He’s definitely moving forward."

Goodson’s best current attribute, at least in McCarthy’s opinion, is the way "he really jumps out at me on special teams."

That bodes well for Goodson making the 53-man roster, especially after a season in which the Packers struggled mightily on special teams and got rid of several key members of the team from that area.

"Special teams comes easy" to Goodson, and he’s happy to contribute to those units. But what Goodson really wants to show is his development as a cornerback.

"Just keeping getting better at cornerback and have a shot to fight for that starting job when the games come around," Goodson said of his goals.

If Goodson gets that chance and makes a few good plays, it will be the first time that most will have seen him do it at this level. For Goodson, though, and for his teammates and coaches who saw him defend Nelson last season, it will just be a reminder of the examples he provided on the practice field.

"Yes, we have great players on this team, but if you don’t have confidence in yourself, you’re not going to be able to play at this level," Goodson said. "As practice kept going, I just kept making plays, kept making plays, and slowly but surely confidence keeps on building, keeps on building."

Follow Paul Imig on Twitter