Packer Central

Two Packers Land Spots on All-Additions Team

The Green Bay Packers made a couple big splashes in free agency and had five Top 100 picks in the draft. Which players made the All-Additions Team at CBS?

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney catches a pass during drills at Packers training camp.
Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney catches a pass during drills at Packers training camp. / Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK
In this story:

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Safety Xavier McKinney was one of two Green Bay Packers who were picked for CBS Sports’ All-Offseason Additions Team.

Cody Benjamin put together a 50-player team consisting of players added via free agency, trades and the NFL Draft. McKinney, who the Packers signed away from the Giants, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who left the Lions for the Eagles, are the starting safeties.

McKinney was a second-round pick by the Giants in 2020. In the two seasons in which he stayed healthy, he intercepted eight passes.

“When you’re playing DB, picks are everything,” McKinney said after intercepting Jordan Love on Wednesday. “Obviously, that’s how you get paid. Those are game-changing plays at the end of the day. We try to get as many of those as we can.

“Obviously, being in this scheme, it’s f****** amazing. We get to play with our instincts. We get to play freely. We just get to play off the quarterback and really use our eyes and play with a lot of vision. It’s been fun.”

If picks are everything, the Packers last year with Joe Barry as defensive coordinator and Darnell Savage and Jonathan Owens serving as the primary safeties were almost nothing. Indeed, turnovers were a major problem for the Packers. Only one team had fewer interceptions than Green Bay’s seven.

It’s only training camp, but the Packers’ new safeties – Evan Williams (four), McKinney (two) and Javon Bullard (one) – have combined for seven interceptions as new coordinator Jeff Hafley’s defense has been producing turnovers by the bushel.

“X is a vet safety,” Love said last week. “He’s played a lot of games in the league. So, I think the more he’s learning this defense, he’s giving us great looks. He’s the guy running the show back there disguising all these looks and he’s roaming back there. He knows where he needs to be, he knows how to kind of hide from the quarterback and disguise stuff.

“It’s another great DB that we’ve got that it’s good-on-good competition that I love, because I’m going against some real guys out there that might be the best DBs we’re going to see all season. It’s always good in good-on-good, but X is doing a phenomenal job back there. He’s a playmaker. He’s always around the ball, he’s always hunting that ball, so I’m excited to see what he can do this year.”

Last year’s primary starting safeties, Savage and Owens, combined for zero interceptions and four passes defensed during the regular season. By himself in New York, McKinney had three picks and 11 passes defensed.

“It’s so fun playing with X,” cornerback Jaire Alexander said. “X is super-hard on himself, super-critical of himself. That’s what’s going to make him great.”

McKinney didn’t earn a four-year, $67 million contract in free agency just because of his playmaking production (which is strong) and tackling acumen (which is excellent). He is expected to lead a safety corps that might be rounded out by three rookies (Bullard and Williams) and one second-year player (Anthony Johnson).

“He’s the vet in the room,” coach Matt LaFleur said, “and certainly (we) put a lot of resources into him and want to put him in position to make plays because he’s shown that ability and we’ve got a lot of confidence in him.”

Greg Joseph was the choice at kicker. Joseph and Anders Carlson have each attempted 47 field goals during training camp; Joseph has three more makes, 40 to 37.

“I just get into a rhythm where, I know it sounds easy to say, me versus me,” he said last week, “but I believe that if I kick to the level that I’m capable of, it’s me versus me and I’m going to put my best foot forward, make as many kicks as I can, and the rest will take care of itself.”

At running back, Josh Jacobs, who was signed from the Raiders, and Aaron Jones, who was released by the Packers and signed with the rival Vikings, were honorable mentions.

More Green Bay Packers Training Camp News

Latest news and analysis: Power rankings | New kicker’s crazy story | Zach Tom is back | Tucker Kraft on his comeback | Takeaways from first depth chart | Rookie Ty’Ron Hopper adjusting to NFL | Roster projection 2.0 | Week 2 medal winners | Week 2 stock report | New outlooks for Colby Wooden, Karl Brooks | Javon Bullard looking smooth | Kicking competition enters next phase | Eric Wilson vs. Edgerrin Cooper | Rookie progress report

Training camp highlights: Practice 12 | Practice 11 | Family Night | Practice 9 | Practice 8 | Practice 7 | Practice 6 | Practice 5 | Practice 4 | Practice 3 | Practice 2 | Practice 1 


Published
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.