The Green Bay Packers have an opportunity to produce one of the NFL’s elite passing defenses in 2020. Not only because Mike Pettine’s group has a disruptive pass rush with at least three good individual rushers, but also due to a young, ascending secondary with the potential to take a star turn this season.
The position group is brimming with talent, and it now has a leader – in veteran defensive backs coach Jerry Gray – with a long track record of developing top talent.
First, let’s highlight the players. It’s always about the players. In Adrian Amos, the Packers have the ideal veteran safety who can always be counted on to be in the right spot. That’s important. But it’s what the Packers have built around Amos that provides so much of the immense potential for 2020.
Jaire Alexander, Kevin King and Darnell Savage have as much collective talent as any young secondary trio in the NFL. If they can improve, both individually and collectively, the Packers will undoubtedly have one of the game’s best secondaries in 2020.
Alexander has produced back-to-back encouraging seasons and looks primed to take the significant step from consistently good to consistently very good in his third year. Top cornerbacks almost always have a rare mix of athleticism, confidence and instincts, and Alexander has it. Of all the Packers’ young players, Alexander looks most capable of becoming a first-time Pro Bowler in 2020.
King is a far more polarizing player and may never reach Alexander’s individual coverage ability on a down to down basis, but he stayed healthy and created a highly productive season in terms of getting his hands on the football in 2019 (five interceptions, 15 pass breakups). Uniquely long and athletic, King is about to enter a contract year and will be extra motivated to produce another good season in 2020.
Savage could be the difference-maker for the entire group. He will combine the window-shrinking speed and playmaking instincts of his impressive skillset with the experience gained as a rookie and the comfort level all players feel in their second season. The Packers believe he’s going to play faster and make fewer mistakes in 2020. If he’s more consistent and creates more impact plays, especially if provided more opportunities to play near the line of scrimmage and in the slot, Savage could enjoy the kind of second-year breakthrough that could put him firmly on the national radar as one of the NFL’s best young safeties.
In 2019, the Packers were a good-to-great passing defense even while incorporating two new safeties – Amos and Savage – into the scheme. Last month, Pettine mentioned how much more comfortable the two safeties – whom he referred to as the defense’s “nerve center” – feel in the scheme.
The addition of Gray adds another layer to the developmental potential in the secondary. A former Pro Bowler with decades of experience teaching cornerbacks and safeties, Gray is confident he has the knowledge and tools to take the talent in Green Bay to another level. His coaching past suggests he could be the key to maximizing the Pro Bowl talent of Alexander and Savage while also helping King play more consistently.
The Packers’ pass-rush is coming off a dominant season and should be a foundational piece of the defense in 2020. Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith disrupt from the edges, with Kenny Clark – the most dominant pass-rushing nose tackle in football – consistently crashing the interior. But rushing the quarterback is just one piece of a two-part puzzle. Defenses that combine disruptive pass-rushing players with a strong collection of talent in the secondary can create a smothering effect against the pass.
Although the Packers do have a question mark in the slot entering 2020, they have the emerging talent on the perimeter and at safety to complete the puzzle.
The Packers have other young players in the secondary, including cornerbacks Chandon Sullivan and Josh Jackson, but going from great to elite will require a collective jump from Alexander, King and Savage, the three young talents capable of powering the secondary’s star turn in 2020.