Packers ‘Totally Believe’ in Savage Despite Benching

Darnell Savage started all 57 career appearances until being demoted. What happened to a former first-round pick and key player?

GREEN BAY, Wis. – On Nov. 3, a few days before the Green Bay Packers played the Detroit Lions, defensive coordinator Joe Barry said, “I think Darnell Savage would be an unbelievable nickel.”

One week later, when the Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys, Savage made his debut as the nickel defender. Rudy Ford started at safety and had two interceptions in what had the looks of a season-changing victory.

A week later, a devastating loss to the Tennessee Titans, the Packers again went with Ford at safety and Savage in the slot.

A week after that, the Sunday night debacle at the Philadelphia Eagles, Savage wasn’t the starting safety. And he wasn’t in the slot. Rather, he was demoted to sixth defensive back.

What happened? How did a former first-round pick with 57 starts under his belt go from a building block of the defense to being replaced by Rudy Ford, who was signed at the end of training camp and had started five games in his first five seasons?

That was a question dodged four times by defensive coordinator Joe Barry on Friday.

“I still totally believe in Darnell Savage,” Barry said. “We’re built on competition. Everything that we do, every single day, we’re built on that. I think the more people you have that you can play and deploy, the better. He got hurt the third play of the Philly game and then was hurt the last game (at Chicago). He’s come back healthy. I think that bye hit right at the right time for him to heal up from the injury he got against Philly. He’s had three really good days of practice the last couple days.”

Safeties coach Ryan Downard wouldn’t say what’s gone wrong with Savage, either, but the end of a lengthy answer about Ford might have been the giveaway.

“It’s how many times can you consistently accomplish your job and get a plus on your grade sheet,” Downard said.

Before being demoted, Savage had one of his worst games against Tennessee. On the first series of the game, Savage was in no man’s land on a deep shot to Treylon Burks that gained 43 yards and set up the Titans’ opening touchdown. Savage had another key breakdown in the third quarter. The Packers had just cut a halftime deficit to 14-9 and had the Titans backed up at their 9. On second-and-7 from the 12, Savage blew coverage and allowed tight end Chigoziem Okonkwo to break wide open for a gain of 31. That set up a touchdown that made it 20-9.

Combined with another season of bad tackling – Savage has the fifth-highest missed-tackle rate among the 65 safeties with 50 percent playing time, according to Pro Football Focus – the Packers had seen enough. The following week against Philadelphia, Keisean Nixon was in the slot, Ford was at safety and Savage was the sixth defensive back until suffering an injured foot on his only snap.

“I don’t see it as much of the fall,” Downard said. “We’ve moved Darnell around to some places. These are conversations that when we all talk in here, we’ve had them multiple times about how we can use him in different ways. Obviously, you guys may view it as good, bad, rise, fall. I view it as every single day, there’s going to be ups and downs. Rudy’s done a great job. Darnell, he had a great day at practice today.”

Savage practiced all week after missing the Chicago game with the injury. Presumably, he’ll have some sort of role against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night. But there’s no reason to move Ford out of the safety position. Take PFF’s grades with a grain of salt but Ford grades out as the team’s second-best defender behind only Rashan Gary.

In 382 fewer snaps, according to the official stats, Ford has Savage beat in interceptions (2-0) and forced fumbles (1-0). They’re tied in passes defensed (two apiece) and Savage has only 10 more tackles (42-32).

“You guys see the speed. It’s real,” Downard said of Ford. “Not only when he has the ball with his two picks but, when a guy pops and there’s a runner in the open field, here comes ‘20’ to run him down. He brings some other things, as well, but we’re good with where Rudy is right now but we’ve got to continue getting him better in the techniques, as we do Darnell.”

The Packers can’t give up on Savage. They simply can’t afford to. This past offseason, general manager Brian Gutekunst flipped the switch on Savage’s fifth-year option. That’s a guaranteed salary of $7.9 million for next season.

With almost 3,500 snaps under his belt and a bunch of good plays on his resume, the challenge will be turning around a career that started with all-rookie honors in 2019 and included an NFL safeties-high 21 passes defensed the previous two seasons.

“The competition is the biggest thing,” Downard said. “I’ve spoken in detail in here about how impressive Rudy was when he came in. We continue to stress the competition in the room. We’re rolling those guys in. Two weeks ago, the lineup there doesn’t dictate the lineup this week. I’ll share with you: I just texted Darnell yesterday, ‘Hey, we believe in you.’”

Somehow, Savage needs to pay off that belief.

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