Big Training Camp Battles: Safeties
Note: This concludes our 10-part series previewing the big battles of training camp. The links to the entire series are at the end of this story.
GREEN BAY, Wis. – With Adrian Amos and Darnell Savage, the Green Bay Packers have a potentially excellent starting tandem at safety.
After that, there’s plenty to be determined when the first practice of training camp begins on Saturday.
Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine lined up with six defensive backs on 52 percent of the defensive snaps last season. Generally, teams use their six-DB dime packages on passing downs. Not Pettine. He leaned on that grouping regardless of the down-and-distance situation.
Last season, safety Raven Greene won the job as the dime linebacker in those not-obvious passing situations and will be the favorite to do so again. Greene built himself into a natural for that role. An undrafted free agent in 2018, Greene’s rookie season ended with an ankle injury. Because he couldn’t run, he lived in the weight room. He returned for training camp last summer with a rocked-up upper body. While the Packers listed him at 197 pounds, he said he weighed 212.
Greene played 56 snaps in a season-opening win at Chicago but suffered another season-ending ankle injury the following week against Minnesota.
“That was definitely a big loss,” coach Matt LaFleur said recently. “Raven’s a really versatile player. Whether it’s at dime linebacker or at the safety position, we’ve got a lot of confidence in him and his ability to help communication on the back end, play his responsibilities to the best of his level. We’re really looking forward to seeing what he can put together this season.”
Fifth-year veteran Will Redmond and rookies Vernon Scott (seventh round) and Henry Black (undrafted) round out the group.
Redmond was a key member of the secondary to start last season, including four starts in a span of five games after Greene’s injury, but logged only five snaps in the last seven games. He was drafted as a cornerback in the third round by the 49ers in 2015 so brings versatility to the party. He tied for the team lead with nine tackles on special teams.
While #DraftTwitter ignored TCU’s Scott, the Packers fell in love with him after he produced four turnovers in the final three games following a position change.
“That other spot is like a nickel corner at the NFL level,” Horned Frogs safeties coach Paul Gonzales said after the draft. “We moved him there and got him ready in the span of a week to play against Texas Tech. He had never taken any reps there before that week and he really thrived. When you look at his body of work as far as the season goes, most of his production and big plays came in the tail-end of the year when he made that move. It was like, ‘Whoa, who’s this guy making all these plays?’”
Black is intriguing because some of his starts at Baylor came at linebacker. The Packers liked him enough to give him a $7,000 signing bonus and guarantee $25,000 of base salary.
“I’m a guy that’s real physical and tough,” Black told Packer Central. “You’re going to get the best out of me. I’m going to come in every day and work. I’m not going to cut you short. I’m going to give it all I have. I’m just a tough, physical, smart football player.”
Final roster prediction (4)
In: Adrian Amos, Darnell Savage, Raven Greene, Will Redmond.
Out: Vernon Scott, Henry Black.
Big Training Camp Battles
OL: Does Turner vs. Taylor mean Taylor vs. Wagner?
TE: Who will emerge as starter?
OLB: Taking the load off the Smith Bros.
