Savage Must Tackle Challenge of Rescuing Career

Green Bay Packers safety Darnell Savage looked like a potential star a couple years ago. Now, he’s become a tackle-missing liability.

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
Nov 4, 2022 8:27 AM EDT
Original:
Nov 4, 2022

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – An NFL Draft isn’t only about rookie impact. It’s about the long haul.

That first-year flop could emerge as a big-time player through opportunity and growth. Take Rashan Gary, for instance. The 12th pick of the 2019 draft, he played five snaps in the NFC Championship Game as a rookie but has emerged as one of the Green Bay Packers’ most irreplaceable players.

It goes the other way, too. Taken 21st in the 2019 draft, Savage had a strong rookie season and even better second year with four interceptions, 12 passes defensed and 75 tackles. His career has hit the skids, though. Through eight games this season, he’s got zero interceptions, one pass defensed and 27 tackles.

The one thing that has remained steady is his tackling. In this case, that’s steady in a bad way. Savage was a bad tackler his first three seasons and has been a bad tackler again this year. According to Pro Football Focus, 62 safeties have played at least 300 defensive snaps. With seven missed tackles, his 21.2 percent missed-tackle rate ranks 58th.

Asked about Savage’s tackling, in general, and his horrendous effort to take down Bills quarterback Josh Allen in the open field with an elbow on Sunday night, in particular, defensive coordinator Joe Barry talked in circles about how hard it is to teach tackling when the only time a defensive player gets to really tackle is during a game.

He’s right, of course. On the practice field, a quarterback can throw against coverage. A pass rusher can go against an offensive lineman. A running back can juke a defender. But a defender can only tackle a bag or a big rolling donut-shaped pad.

That’s an excuse, though. Working under the same constraints, fellow Packers safety Adrian Amos is one of the best open-field tacklers in the game. San Francisco safety Tashaun Gipson has 28 tackles without a miss. Tampa Bay’s Antoine Winfield has 39 tackles and one miss.

So, how do you take a bad tackler – one with a history of bad tackling and not just a slump – and make him a good tackler? That’s an especially relevant question ahead of Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions. The Lions are only 1-6 but they’ve been superb on offense, especially at Ford Field. Running back D’Andre Swift and receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown can make defenders look silly.

“If you’re basketball player and you’re a bad free throw shooter, the way you do it is you go in the gym and you shoot 1,000 free throws,” Barry said. “It’s hard to create and do a full-speed tackling drill that you get realistically in an NFL football game. We have to create drills in practice that are as realistic as we can get in individual periods. And then the biggest thing we have to do is when we do practice full speed – even though we don’t tackle – you have to really, really be diligent and be good with your angles, be good with your leverage.

“We talk about mentally simulating a tackle because we physically can’t do it until it happens live on gameday. It’s just something we constantly preach and we constantly work on. Darnell, he put the work in this week, I promise you on that, on Wednesday and Thursday. Just something we have to keep preaching and keep working.”

Savage’s diminished play is a real problem, and not just for this week and this season. Savage didn’t have a good year last year, either, but general manager Brian Gutekunst flipped the switch on the fifth-year option. That means Savage will be playing for a guaranteed $7.9 million next season.

Year-to-year improvement, such as that of Gary, is the lifeblood for draft-and-develop teams like the Packers. It’s practically the expectation. Savage’s career, however, is headed the opposite direction.

Would it help to move Savage into the slot? Who knows? His career has stagnated at safety and he’d welcome the opportunity.

“I think Darnell Savage would be an unbelievable nickel, and we’ve repped him there at times over the years,” Barry said.

The word “unbelievable” is probably hyperbole. Otherwise, he should have been moved into the slot long ago. Slot defenders, because of their proximity to the ball, have to tackle and be physical, which would work against what he’s shown at safety. On the other hand, giving Savage a shot in the slot would come with the added bonus of moving Rasul Douglas out of the slot and to cornerback, a role in which he thrived last season.

That, however, is not in the cards. Moving Savage would require finding a new starting safety. Two weeks ago, Barry praised the play of veteran safety Rudy Ford, who was signed at the end of training camp. And Douglas spent one of day of training camp at safety. At this point, though, Barry’s going to stick with what he’s got and hope for better performances.

“In order to do that, if you’re going to move him to the nickel corner position, you’ve got to feel comfortable with putting someone in at safety. I absolutely think Darnell has the skill to do that, there’s no doubt about it. He can play safety, man or zone. He can play nickel, man or zone. He definitely is able to do that, it’s just we haven’t been able to get to some of those things with moving him specifically to the nickel corner position.”