Packers Training Camp Preview: Safeties

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst perhaps solved the team’s problems at safety by signing Xavier McKinney and drafting Javon Bullard, Evan Williams and Kitan Oladapo.

Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 

GREEN BAY, Wis. – If Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst were a blackjack player, you know what he’d do with an 11?

He’d double down.

Gutekunst turned to his tried-and-true method of fixing problem positions. With a black hole at safety, he signed Xavier McKinney in free agency and doubled down in the draft by adding three more players.

Voila. Problem solved. Let’s take a closer look in our Packers training camp preview of the safeties.

Packers Safeties Depth Chart

Xavier McKinney: Given a four-year, $67 million contract in free agency, the Packers are hoping McKinney can provide production at least comparable to the three interceptions, 11 passes defensed and 116 tackles he provided to the Giants last year. When he was hired, new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley discussed the “perfect” safety. McKinney, who will turn 26 on Aug. 8, has all those skills, including playmaking, tackling, versatility and communication.

Javon Bullard: Bullard was drafted in the second round after a superb two seasons as a starter at Georgia. Gutekunst and Hafley like versatility; Bullard played mostly in the slot in 2022 and mostly deep safety in 2023. He excelled in both roles. A “little stick of dynamite” at Georgia with 4.47 speed in the 40 and an 8.25 Relative Athletic Score, he was an excellent all-around player. Among safeties in the draft class, Bullard according to Pro Football Focus ranked No. 1 in forced-incompletion percentage (minimum 300 coverage snaps) and 16th in missed-tackle percentage (minimum 500 snaps). At the Senior Bowl, he was voted his team’s best safety by the opposition.

Anthony Johnson: Johnson as a seventh-round pick last year had an interesting rookie season. He didn’t play at all in the first five games and played four defensive snaps each of the next two games before starting three of the next four games. In his first career start, he made a diving interception against the Rams. He finished the season with one interception and three passes defensed. However, he had the highest missed-tackle percentage among NFL safeties. He had nine missed tackles in 302 snaps; McKinney had seven in 1,128.

Evan Williams: The Packers traded up in the fourth round to select Williams, who was all-conference for Fresno State in 2021 and 2022 and again for Oregon in 2023. Williams had three interceptions and nine passes defensed in 2021, showing his skill as a coverage player, and had 4.5 sacks and five tackles for losses in 2023, showing his ability to play with physicality. “I feel like that’s something that definitely sets me apart,” he said upon being drafted. Like Bullard, he was voted his team’s best safety by the opposition at the Senior Bowl. His RAS was 8.20.

Benny Sapp III: Sapp is the son of Benny Sapp II, who played for the Vikings, among other teams. Sapp had a remarkable journey to the NFL. In high school, he played in two full games and had three season-ending knee surgeries. Sapp was an FCS All-American at Northern Iowa in 2022 and signed with the Packers as an undrafted free agent. He spent most of the year on the practice squad before a late-season promotion. In five games, he played three snaps on defense and 40 on special teams (two tackles).

Zayne Anderson: An undrafted free agent out of BYU in 2021, Anderson played 110 snaps on special teams in seven games with the Chiefs in 2021 and 2022 and spent training camp with the Bills in 2023. The Packers added him off waivers at the end of camp. In 10 games, he played 127 snaps on special teams and contributed four tackles. He had three interceptions in six seasons at BYU and three at the first practice of minicamp.

Kitan Oladapo: Oladapo was the third safety selected this year, with the Packers adding him with a fifth-round pick. He suffered a broken toe at the Scouting Combine and sat out the offseason practices. Oladapo was a walk-on at Oregon State who became a three-year all-conference selection with three interceptions, 27 passes defensed and 15.5 tackles for losses on his resume. At 6-foot-2 and 216 pounds, he ran his 40 in 4.58 with an 8.18 RAS.

Tyler Coyle: Coyle went undrafted out of Purdue in 2021 and played in three games for the Dallas Cowboys (two in 2021, one in 2022) with six tackles on defense and three on special teams. Unlike the safeties the Packers drafted, Coyle has an elite athletic package with 4.41 speed in the 40 and a 9.83 RAS. Of his three college interceptions, he returned two for touchdowns.

Biggest Strength: Xavier McKinney

McKinney was the best safety available in free agency. With three interceptions and 11 passes defensed and elite numbers in coverage and as a tackler, words can’t properly express how much of an upgrade he is over Darnell Savage and Jonathan Owens. Savage and Owens combined for zero interceptions and four passes defensed last year. McKinney had three interceptions and five passes defensed in the final six games of last season.

The ball production will be huge for a defense that finished next-to-last in the NFL with seven interceptions last year. Those are the headline numbers, but McKinney’s ability as a tackler will be invaluable in preventing 8-yard runs from turning into 20-yard gains or 20-yard catches from turning into touchdowns. McKinney had 116 tackles and missed seven, according to PFF. Owens had 74 tackles and missed seven. Savage had 50 tackles and missed 12. Johnson had 23 tackles and missed nine.

Biggest Question: How Much Did the Packers Improve?

The Packers haven’t had a Pro Bowl safety since former first-round pick Ha Ha Clinton-Dix in 2016. They haven’t had an All-Pro safety since Darren Sharper in 2000. Will McKinney change that history?

Moreover, ESPN’s Louis Riddick predicted McKinney and Bullard would be in the “discussion” for the “best tandem in the league” by the end of the season.

If that statement comes to fruition, who knows just how far this defense could carry the team this season.

Biggest Battle: Third Safety

When the defense was at full strength for the offseason practices, McKinney and Johnson usually formed the No. 1 tandem. Under the assumption that Bullard will quickly move past Johnson on the depth chart, the real battle will be for the third safety.

With Johnson, Williams and Oladapo, the Packers have three potentially strong options. Johnson spent most of his career at Iowa State playing cornerback. Williams played a lot in the slot. Oladapo has some combo safety-linebacker traits. So, the versatility is present if Hafley wants to build some creative packages or if he needs to shuffle his assets.

Biggest Key: Javon Bullard’s Development

The Packers have high hopes for Bullard, for obvious reasons. He’s fast. He hits. He makes plays. He’s versatile. He’s come through in big games.

“Just a good football player. That’s the highest compliment I can give a guy,” the Senior Bowl’s Jim Nagy told Packers On SI. “He just makes plays in both phases. He’s very instinctive, aggressive, he’ll trigger downhill, he can make plays in coverage. I think the thing that showed up in Senior Bowl was some of the stuff he did in man coverage. I think he can play nickel, so there’s some nickel-safety versatility there. Yeah, guy’s just a really good football player.”

The Packers need Bullard to start at safety for the good of the defense. However good he is in Week 1, they need him to be exponentially better in Week 18 and beyond. They also might need him to play in the slot should something happen to Keisean Nixon in terms of injury or performance.

“He can run, he can cover, he can play deep, he can play in the slot, he can blitz,” Hafley said. ‘He’s bigger when you see him. He’s thick (and) strong. The best part about it, and I kind of said the same thing about X, is you don’t really know what you’re getting until you get into the meeting room with them. He’s a sharp guy.”

It can be dangerous to ask too much of a rookie, but that’s the importance of Bullard.

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