The timing couldn’t be better for teams seeking to bolster their safety position, and the Packers find themselves in that situation with their top three safeties—Darnell Savage, Jonathan Owens, and Rudy Ford—all entering free agency. With a significant gap in the defensive backfield, Green Bay must address this need.
They might have an advantageous opportunity to pursue one of the premier safeties available in the market: Giants standout Xavier McKinney, a former second-round pick from Alabama who registered three interceptions and 11 passes defended last season. The Alabama connection could prove significant—the Packers recently added Derrick Ansley as their defensive pass-game coordinator, and Ansley served as Alabama’s defensive backs coach during McKinney’s freshman year.
McKinney mentioned that he hasn’t had recent conversations with Ansley, but expressed interest in the possibility of reuniting with him, stating that he finds the prospect “intriguing.”
“It’s been quite some time since I last spoke to him,” McKinney mentioned during the “Up & Adams” podcast this week. “I remember chatting with him when he was with the Chargers, this was a couple of years ago when we faced off against them. We had a conversation out on the field. However, I actually wasn’t aware that he had joined the Packers. I thought he was still with the Chargers. So, when I saw that news, I was quite intrigued because I had no idea he was there.”
