Packer Central

Jeff Hafley Gives Ultimate Compliment to Xavier McKinney

Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney was named NFC Defensive Player of the Month on Thursday. Coaches Jeff Hafley and Ryan Downard had strong words about the accomplishment. 

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney is the NFC Defensive Player of the Month for October.
Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney is the NFC Defensive Player of the Month for October. / Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Month for October on Thursday.

With an NFL-leading six interceptions, McKinney is a major reason why the Packers (6-2) have a chance to take over first place in the NFC North when they host the Detroit Lions (6-1) on Sunday.

“It was awesome. I had no idea,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said on Thursday. “The picture went up in the team meeting, that was really cool. It’s a credit to him.”

In eight games, McKinney has almost as many interceptions as the Packers had all last season (seven). It’s almost impossible to overstate the impact he’s made on the defense and the rest of the team.

“He in my opinion is the best safety in the NFL,” Hafley said. “And it’s starting to be seen by everybody. And I’m so proud of him and it doesn’t surprise me. The growth that he’s had, too, I mean, I can already see it. He’s become one of the best leaders on our team, he’s one of the best practice players on our team. He’s got an unbelievable attitude, he’s always studying.

“And he’s young. I don’t even think we’ve seen close to how good this guy’s going to be. It’s just right now everybody’s starting to notice it because he’s got huge production.”

The 26-year-old McKinney was drafted by the Giants in 2020. He had a career-high five interceptions in 2021 and nine interceptions in four seasons.

The Packers signed him to a four-year, $67 million contract in free agency to provide the impact safety they’ve lacked since Nick Collins’ prime years.

McKinney is everything the Packers could have hoped for and more.

Collins’ best season was seven interceptions in 2008. When Charles Woodson won NFL Defensive Player of the Year with the Packers in 2009 – he garnered three NFC Defensive Player of the Month awards that year – he had nine interceptions. Irv Comp holds the franchise record with 10 interceptions in 1943.

McKinney, by the way, is fifth in the Defensive Player of the Year odds at DraftKings.

So, yeah, there are bigger fish to fry for McKinney from an individual perspective. There’s also leading a young secondary and being part of a team with Super Bowl aspirations.

“I went right to X when he walked out [of the team meeting], just like I always do, and I told him to, ‘Ignore that noise,’ because I don’t want him looking at that stuff right now,” defensive backs coach Ryan Downard said.

“Naturally, let’s be real, he sees it, he hears it. That’s a great honor, awesome, but that’s not the goal that we set. That’s not the goal for himself that he set. That sounds like a little coachspeak, but I really believe that.”

It is impossible to tune out the outside perspective. Even Downard can’t avoid it.

“My wife sent me the [Player of the Month] graphic today,” Downard said, “so I go right to X and I say, ‘You stop listening to that stuff.’ They don’t validate who he is, and he’s got much more to accomplish. He probably thinks I’m a little bit of a prick, but that’s the approach he’s got to have. He won’t be affected by that, but he probably looks at me a little crazy when I say those things to him.”

McKinney probably doesn’t need Downard in his ear. As he spoke about the award and Sunday’s showdown against the Lions, he repeated what he’s said the last several weeks.

“At the end of the day, it’s a great honor and I’m happy about it,” McKinney said. “But there’s more to do and there’s more that I want to accomplish, and I’m just going to get back to work.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.