Packers 2024 Preview: Safeties

Xavier McKinney and draft picks are expected to have big years for Green Bay, a team looking to replace its three most-played safeties.

None of the three most-played safeties from the Green Bay Packers’ 2023 team, Jonathan Owens, Rudy Ford and Darnell Savage, remain on the roster going into the 2024 season. No position has seen more change offseason than safety, which added three new draft picks and a star free agent.

Hopefully, this should help the transition from former defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s quarters-based scheme to new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley’s single-high defense. Join us as we go through the entire safety room, noting which players are poised to start and which safeties are on the roster bubble going into training camp.

Below is our full publishing schedule for our positional preview series, which will conclude tomorrow when we break down the specialists:

• May 13th: Quarterbacks
• May 14th: Running Backs
• May 15th: Receivers
• May 16th: Tight Ends
• May 17th: Offensive Linemen
• May 18th: Defensive Tackles
• May 19th: Defensive Ends
• May 20th: Linebackers
• May 21st: Cornerbacks
• May 22nd: Safeties
• May 23rd: Specialists

Xavier McKinney

The star at the safety position for the Packers this year will be the recently-signed Xavier McKinney. In four years with the New York Giants, McKinney played 49 games for the team, making 46 total starts. This offseason, he was considered to be a player who the Giants could have placed the franchise tag on. When he was allowed to hit unrestricted free agency, Green Bay quickly offered him a four-year, $67 million contract to fill one of their holes at safety.

McKinney comes to the Packers after playing in a man-blitz-heavy defense in New York. In Green Bay, Jeff Hafley’s scheme will ask the team to play more single-high coverages. Hafley and the rest of the coaching staff have said that they will use McKinney in both safety roles, rather than having him just sit as the team’s single-high safety. Based on the first media-open OTA practice, that seems to track.

So expect to see a little of McKinney everywhere this year, either as a post safety or down in the box helping out as a strong safety — depending on what formations the Packers are facing on a given down. By all accounts, Green Bay seems to want to play a left and right safety more than a box and post safety.

Javon Bullard

Anthony Johnson Jr.

The two real contenders for the starting safety job next to McKinney are second-round rookie Javon Bullard and second-year draft pick Anthony Johnson Jr. Bullard comes from Georgia, where he played in a quarters-based system that asked him to fit the run from depth, similar to former defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s scheme. His role should change some, as the team is now asking for true hybrid safeties on the back end. With that being said, you could argue — and I would — that Bullard was the best hybrid safety in the 2024 NFL Draft.

After being taken in the seventh round last year, Johnson was able to record 303 total defensive snaps over 12 games for the Packers — making four starts. He only allowed eight completions last season, but they came at a huge cost — 17.8 yards per completion. Johnson is also best suited as a true single-high safety type of defensive back, too, as he comes from a cornerback background. Barely over 200 pounds, he’s hardly a player you want living in the box for half of the game.

In early OTAs, Johnson has been seen running with the first-team defense, but Green Bay is a team that likes to make rookies earn their roles in practice. I’m going to assume that Bullard is going to pass Johnson on the depth chart at some point this summer, but don’t be surprised to hear that Johnson is getting run with the starters.

Evan Williams

Kitan Oladapo

The Packers double- and triple-dipped at the safety position in the 2024 draft when they added two Beaver State products: fourth-round pick Evan Williams of Oregon and fifth-round pick Kitan Oladapo of Oregon State. They are pretty different prospects who should give Green Bay new flavors of players in the room.

Williams is a former Fresno State transfer who decided to play with the Ducks — a program where his brother played — during his final year of eligibility. He’s an athletic player who started to gain traction around midseason, when Oregon beat Colorado and Williams recorded several sacks. At least this year, he should be considered a high-level special teams player who should be able to contribute early on for Rich Bisaccia. Bisaccia is well-known for his use of safeties, the position he plays the most on special teams.

Meanwhile, Oladapo is a bigger body safety who fits the mold of a true box safety. Pro Football Focus had him graded as one of the better run-defending defensive backs during his college career. That tackling ability should also translate to special teams. Unfortunately, Oladapo is also nursing a toe injury which required surgery this offseason. At times this spring, he’s been seen in Green Bay with a walking boot.

Benny Sapp III

Zayne Anderson

At this point the question becomes how many safeties the Packers will have room for on their 53-man roster? Bisaccia would ideally carry six safeties, with the way he uses them on special teams, but it’s uncertain if general manager Brian Gutekunst will allow for that now that the defense has transitioned to a 4-3 defense — which both the coaching staff and front office have said will mean that the team will need to carry more off-ball linebackers than in the past.

Two players on the roster bubble going into training camp are Benny Sapp III and Zayne Anderson. Sapp was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Northern Iowa last year, and he made Green Bay’s initial practice squad. In Weeks 11, 12, 16 and 17, though, Sapp was activated for game action during the regular season. He ended up playing three defensive snaps and 40 special teams reps over those games.

Anderson, meanwhile, is only a safety in name. The hybrid linebacker-safety originally started his career in Kansas City before the Packers claimed him off of waivers via the Buffalo Bills at cutdowns. In total, he’s played 17 career NFL games with all 237 of his career snaps coming on special teams. With the additions of Williams and Oladapo, he might find himself as the odd man out.

Tyler Coyle

The final player on this list is Tyler Coyle, who ran a 4.41-second 40-yard dash at Purdue’s pro day back in 2021. He signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent that year, seeing action in three games over two seasons with the team. After being let go in August of 2023, Coyle signed a deal with the Houston Gamblers of the USFL — one of the teams that was folded during the USFL-XFL merger that created the UFL. As a free agent, he signed a practice squad deal with the Packers late in the 2023 regular season. As of this point, we haven’t seen him in game action for Green Bay.