Rudy Ford begins Packers training camp as starter at safety

On the first day of training camp, Rudy Ford was a starter next to Darnell Savage at safety.

While Darnell Savage is an assumed starter for the Green Bay Packers at safety, the second starting safety spot could be one of the best competitions for Matt LaFleur’s team during training camp.

On Day 1 of practice, Rudy Ford held the title of favorite.

Ford, who started six games for the Packers last season and has 12 career starts, was on the field alongside Savage with the first-team defense, per Paul Bretl of Packers Wire.

His appearance with the starters wasn’t a big surprise given he played with the first-team defense throughout the offseason workout program. Can Ford hold onto the job throughout camp?

Per Bretl, Jonathan Owens and Dallin Leavitt were the second-team safeties. Tarvarius Moore, the other offseason veteran addition along with Owens, is currently on the non-football injury list. The other competitors include rookie Anthony Johnson Jr. and veteran returnee Innis Gaines.

The Packers signed Ford after he was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars before Week 1 last season. He appeared in all 17 games, playing mostly on special teams during the first half of the season before emerging as a starter for a struggling position group in Week 10. Over the final eight games, Ford played at least 30 defensive snaps seven times.

Ford’s six starts in 2022 were a career-high. A sixth-round pick of the Cardinals in 2017, Ford has never gone into a season as a starter on defense. At a position of potential weakness, the Packers are banking on Ford being a late bloomer.

Packers re-sign S Rudy Ford with one-year deal

The Packers brought back safety Rudy Ford with a one-year deal.

The Green Bay Packers re-signed safety Rudy Ford with a one-year, $2.5 million deal, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.

It’s unclear if the Packers used void years in the contract to reduce his cap hit in 2023.

Ford, who signed with the Packers after final cuts last August, played in all 17 games in Green Bay last season. He started a career-high six games and posted a career-high three interceptions over 442 snaps on defense, and he also forced his first fumble and recovered his first fumble during the 2022 season.

Signed to provide help on special teams, Ford emerged as a capable starting option for Joe Barry midway through the season.

Could Ford be a Week 1 starter in 2023? He’ll have a good chance given the current depth chart at the position.

The Packers signed Tarvarius Moore on Thursday and re-signed Ford a day later, providing some stability at the safety position. Adrian Amos and Dallin Leavitt remain free agents, and Darnell Savage is likely headed to the slot, so there’s still work to be done.

Even if Ford isn’t a starter in 2023, he’ll be a key part of the Packers kick and punt coverage units on special teams.

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Keisean Nixon and Rudy Ford have brought unexpected excitement to Packers’ season

The Packers found a few gems in Keisean Nixon and Rudy Ford in 2022.

While the Green Bay Packers have fallen well short of expectations in 2022, two previously overlooked players have brought excitement to a season where there hasn’t been much to cheer about.

Of course, we’re talking about cornerback Keisean Nixon and safety Rudy Ford.

Both players are in their first seasons with the Packers. Initially, Nixon and Ford were brought in as reinforcements for a special teams unit that was dead last in Rich Gosselin’s annual rankings. However, thanks to the hiring of Rich Bissacia and an emphasis on finding more specialized players in free agency, this season Green Bay’s special teams is currently ranked 16th, according to Pro Football Focus. They haven’t finished better than 16th since 2015.

Lately, it’s been Nixon providing the biggest boost to the Packers’ “we-fense.”

For most of the season, Amari Rodgers had served as the team’s return specialist, but a fourth fumble against Dallas Cowboys finally turned the job over to Nixon and eventually led to Rodgers’ release. Since then, Nixon has put together one of the best seasons by a Green Bay kick returner in more than 20 years. His seven kickoff returns of 30-plus yards rank first in the league and have Aaron Rodgers longing for more.

“He’s been so important for us changing the kicking game,” Rodgers said after their most recent win over the Chicago Bears. “For a long time here, and I don’t mean this as disrespect, but it’s just the facts, for a long time when that ball is up in the air on kickoff, I’m thinking, ‘stay in, stay in, don’t bring it out,’ because just not a lot of good stuff happens. But I always tell Kei now when he’s about to go out there, I say, ‘bring it out,’ because he brings an extra type of juice to our football team, and you can win with guys like that, guys that care about it, guys that are tough and guys that make big-time plays.”

In that same game, with under a minute left, Nixon picked off Justin Fields for his first-career interception to seal the win.

“Kei closed that thing out,” Rodgers added. “He’s the type of player I wish I’d had over the course of my career because you feel real good going to battle with a guy like that.”

Meanwhile, Ford has also proven to be just as impactful. Before signing with the Packers on August 31, Ford spent most of his career as a special teamer. Now, he’s started the last four games at safety and has emerged as one of their better playmakers on defense.

It all started in Week 10 against Dallas after Darnell Savage was moved to the slot. Ford took his place at safety and made two game-changing interceptions to help secure an overtime win. He also provided some hard-nosed tackling, which caught the attention of Matt LaFleur.

“I thought he did an outstanding job,” LaFleur said via The Athletic. “You could really feel his speed and physicality out on the field. There were a couple of open-field tackles that he made that I thought were pretty impressive, so I thought it was, all in all, a really good day for him.”

Two weeks later, Ford forced a fumble against the Philadelphia Eagles and then recovered a fumble the following week against the Bears.

For whatever reason, the ball has a way of finding Ford, but what is impressing teammates like Jaire Alexander the most is how he’s picked up on what they are trying to do defensively.

“Rudy stepped up for us,” Alexander said Saturday. “I think he is doing better at communicating. He wasn’t out there with us for training camp, so he wasn’t even able to talk and be out there, but he’s come a long, and I’m excited for whatever plays come for him.”

Eventually, Green Bay will have to make decisions on both Nixon and Ford. The team doesn’t want to lose possibly their best kick returner in over two decades or a safety who is a super reliable tackler and a playmaker in coverage.

Currently, both are signed to cheap, one-year deals, but could seek out a contract with more years and compensation in the offseason. Eventually, the Packers need to consider whether what Nixon and Ford bring to the table is worth another investment. Right now, the answer is overwhelmingly yes.

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Long-term uncertainty at safety plus Rudy Ford’s ascending play creates clear path back to Packers in 2023

Rudy Ford has played himself into consideration for a role at safety with the Packers beyond the 2022 season.

Very little has gone right for the Green Bay Packers defense this season, and very few players are playing above expectations. But Rudy Ford has been one of the bright spots in a disappointing season and is setting himself up to be a part of the Packers’ future plans at the position.

Ford was signed late in the summer following his release from Jacksonville. He was brought in to be a primary special teams player with a reputation for being one of the game’s best fliers (a term Rich Bisaccia uses in place of “gunner”), and we’ve seen those talents on display as he has forced a number of fair catches this season.

However, in addition to Ford’s special teams abilities, he has seen his role on defense expand as the season has progressed. This was in part out of necessity early on due to an injury to Adrian Amos and then poor play from Darnell Savage at safety that resulted in him being moved to the slot, with Ford taking over next to Amos. But following these last three weeks, Ford has become a regular member of the starting defense moving forward because of his ascending play.

Ford has brought two missing elements to the defense this season — playmaking and reliable tackling. Since becoming a regular member of the defensive unit in Week 10 against Dallas, Ford has forced two interceptions, including one in the end zone. Both picks came against the Cowboys and eventually led to 14 points from the offense in an overtime win. He also forced a fumble against Philadelphia that the Green Bay offense again turned into points.

In the run game, Ford flies around the field, playing fast and physical. This season, he has been credited with 29 total tackles, 27 of which are solo, and he has missed only three. Of the 20 Packers defenders with at least 50 run defense snaps, Ford has the highest grade from PFF, and he’s actually been the NFL’s fourth-highest graded safety overall during these last three games.

“I thought he did an outstanding job,” said Matt LaFleur following the Dallas game via The Athletic. “You could really feel his speed and physicality out on the field. There were a couple of open-field tackles that he made that I thought were pretty impressive, so I thought it was, all in all, a really good day for him. Obviously, to be able to trigger on those two picks, especially the one in the red zone after turning the ball over, I mean, that was one of the pivotal plays in the game that gave us the opportunity to kind of stay in the game, and we converted both those into points.”

The safety position is one that is very much going to be in flux this coming offseason due in large part to the Packers not planning ahead very well. As of now, the only safeties under contract in 2023 are Savage on a fifth-year option, but he looks nothing like a long-term answer at the position, and 2022 seventh-round pick Tariq Carpenter, who has been a special teams player as a rookie. Everyone else currently on the roster or practice squad is a free agent, including Amos, who likely won’t be back after having his worst season since coming to Green Bay.

This uncertainty at the position, however, very much opens the door for Ford to return next season. At this point, it may be a little too premature to sharpie him into a roster spot in 2023, but I would at least pencil Ford in at this time, given the outlook of the safety position after this season, coupled with his outstanding play.

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The Green Bay Packers flipped their defense, and saved their season

The Green Bay Packers made some much-needed defenses changes to fool Dak Prescott and the Cowboys in a season-saving win.

The Green Bay Packers were all too close to their season being over as they prepared to face the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. Through the first ten weeks of the season, the Packers experienced frustration on both sides of the ball. But in Green Bay’s 31-28 victory, when the offense finally came together, it was critical for the defense to step up and make plays, which  they did.

Prior to this week, the Packers overall defensive DVOA was ranked 18th with 1.3%. With key defenders Eric Stokes,  De’Vondre Campbell, and Rashan Gary out, it wasn’t looking good. Yet, that defense played its best game of the season on Sunday.

Instead of leaving Darnell Savage in the safety position, defensive coordinator Joe Barry rotated Savage to the nickel corner spot, and upgraded Rudy Ford to the starting free safety position. Ford grabbed two interceptions, which changed the entire dynamic of the game.

Let’s pull the film to see how the Packers made adjustments on the defensive side of the ball to pull out their first win in five weeks!

Changes to Packers secondary yields positive results vs. Cowboys

The Packers started Rudy Ford at safety and moved Darnell Savage into the slot and closer to the line of scrimmage vs. the Cowboys.

Due to an injury to Eric Stokes and continued issues at safety for Darnell Savage, changes to the Green Bay Packers secondary were a must.

Those changes were made on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys and paid immediate benefits.

Poor angles, at times what looked like an unwillingness to tackle, and not being in the right spot left Savage looking lost at the safety position at times. A few weeks ago, Joe Barry was asked about moving Savage to the nickel cornerback position where his skill set would be better utilized, but in an uninspiring response, Barry said that would require depth at the safety position to do so.

The Packers then found that depth last Wednesday when they claimed Johnathan Abram off waivers. They also had slot snaps to fill with Stokes being placed on IR on Saturday and Rasul Douglas moving to the boundary.

Savage played 48 snaps from the slot against Dallas but still had a role as a safety as well. When the Packers were in their base defense, as we have seen all season, Savage and Adrian Amos were the two deep safeties, with Isaiah McDuffie and Quay Walker at linebacker.

When in nickel, Savage took over in the slot, and Rudy Ford was deep next to Amos with Douglas and Jaire Alexander on the boundary. Then in dime, Savage was again lined up deep, but this time next to Ford, while Amos was in the box and Keisean Nixon was the slot cornerback.

With these moves, Savage was still played 100% of the Packers defensive snaps while Ford was on the field for 76%.

These changes that were made certainly didn’t solve everything. Dallas did a really good job of moving CeeDee Lamb around so that he oftentimes wasn’t matched up on Alexander, and he was nearly unstoppable, catching 11 of his 15 targets for 150 yards and two touchdowns. We also saw some self-inflicted wounds by Barry, again giving too much cushion to the Cowboys’ receivers at times.

With that said, despite Lamb’s performance, the Packers’ secondary held Dak Prescott to only 5.5 yards per attempt, which for context, wouldn’t even rank in the top 35 this season among quarterbacks. Pass catchers not named Lamb totaled just 115 receiving yards.

Overall, this was a secondary that appeared to be playing much more aggressively with their new look. We regularly saw the Green Bay cornerbacks challenging the Dallas receivers at the line of scrimmage, and Barry even sprinkled in some cover-one looks, along with some well-disguised coverages, one of which helped create Ford’s second interception as things were muddied up over the middle of the field. In general, there was more of an attacking nature from this group and added level of cohesiveness as well, illustrated by their ability to pass routes off.

Ford was able to fully capitalize on his newfound opportunities. He flies around the field as a run defender, never encountering a tackle he didn’t want to make, and he also came away with two interceptions, which led to 14 points for the Packers’ offense while also taking at least three off the board from Dallas. With the Packers often utilizing light boxes in Barry’s defensive scheme, having willing run defenders at the safety position is a must.

Savage, meanwhile, looked much more confident lined up in the slot and far less passive than he did at safety. Barry even utilized him on several occasions as a blitzer to drum up some needed pressure on Prescott.

Savage finished the game with eight total tackles, including one miss. For reference, Savage has eight tackles combined over the previous three games. In coverage, he surrendered five receptions on six targets for 75 yards and had one pass breakup per PFF. While not perfect, his impact in this small sample size was far greater from the slot than what it had been as a safety. 

“Rudy’s been doing some good things, and when given opportunities on defense, he’s maximized those, and he plays with a lot of speed; you can feel his speed out there,” said LaFleur after the game. “He’s physical too. To get Savage a little more involved closer to the ball and see if he can do something in that position, that’s just the route we decided to go this week.”

As a whole, and specifically in the secondary, this is a Packers’ defense that has very much underwhelmed this season. And while what we saw from them against Dallas isn’t a cure-all for every issue, the changes made provided several positives to build off of moving forward.

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Christian Watson, Rudy Ford team up to help save Packers season

Unlikely heroes. Three touchdown catches from Christian Watson and two interceptions from Rudy Ford helped the Packers beat the Cowboys on Sunday.

One is a second-round pick who has battled through three lower-body injuries and a concussion to start his NFL career. The other is a castoff who was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier this year and expected to be nothing more than a special teams weapon.

On Sunday at Lambeau Field, Christian Watson and Rudy Ford – a truly unlikely tandem – teamed up to save the 2022 season of the Green Bay Packers.

Watson caught three touchdown passes and Ford picked off two passes to help the Packers escape a sixth-straight loss and stun the Dallas Cowboys with a 31-28 win in overtime.

Ford was the early savior. After the Cowboys took a 7-0 lead and then strip-sacked Aaron Rodgers inside the 20-yard line, Ford took points off the board when he jumped a pass in the end zone and made his first of two interceptions of Dak Prescott.

What could have been 10-0 or 14-0 in favor of the Cowboys stayed at 7-0.

And the Packers made the missed opportunity hurt just a few plays later.

Watson, the 34th overall pick in the 2022 draft, got behind the coverage of Anthony Brown and made an impressive over-the-shoulder catch of Aaron Rodgers’ deep throw for a 58-yard touchdown.

Ford got Prescott again on the ensuing series. He returned the pick to the Cowboys 24-yard line, setting up a short touchdown drive that ended with Aaron Jones’ 12-yard run.

Those three plays turned the game in the Packers’ favor during the first 30 minutes.

Watson took over the fourth quarter.

The rookie erased a 28-14 deficit with a 39-yard touchdown catch on 4th-and-7 and a 7-yard touchdown with 2:29 left in the fourth quarter.

Four catches, 107 yards, three touchdowns. It was a Randy Moss-like stat line for Watson is a do-or-die game for the Packers.

Ford helped the Packers defense get off the field on four straight drives to end the game, including on fourth down in overtime. His interceptions led to 14 points.

Who could have seen this coming?

Watson missed almost all of training camp after needing knee surgery, suffered a pair of hamstring injuries during the first two months of the regular season and then was knocked out of a primetime game in Buffalo with a concussion.

Ford was released by the Jaguars in August. He came into Sunday’s game with almost twice as many special teams snaps as defensive snaps and just one career interception. He started at safety and doubled his interception total.

Unlikely heroes saved the Packers. Of course, Aaron Rodgers played one of his best games of the season and Aaron Jones produced over 150 total yards, so Watson and Ford didn’t do it alone. But the Packers don’t snap a five-game losing streak without the oft-injured rookie and special teams castoff.

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Former Auburn safety picks off Dak Prescott twice

Prescott was getting SEC West flashbacks on Sunday.

Auburn showed out against Texas A&M on Saturday, but the school legacy is continuing on Sunday.

Former Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott got an SEC West flashback on two different occasions on Sunday. Former Auburn safety [autotag]Rudy Ford[/autotag] grabbed two passes from Prescott in the Packers’ home game against the Cowboys, his first two interceptions on the year.

Ford’s first pick game when the Cowboys were looking to cash in in the red zone. Prescott threw a pass that appeared to be intended for tight end Dalton Schultz, but Ford read the play and picked it off in the endzone. Ford returned the ball to midfield before being forced out of bounds.

His second interception came later in the second quarter. Prescott threw a football down the middle of the field for wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, but the ball appeared to be thrown a little behind and Rudy capitalized, taking the ball close to the Cowboys’ 20-yard line.

The two interceptions are Ford’s first of the year. The Packers are Ford’s fourth team since he came to the NFL in 2017 after Auburn, and the action at safety in the game so far is the most play he’s seen at the position all year.

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Rudy Ford steps in at safety for Packers but impact on special teams is missed

The Packers got 44 quality snaps out of Rudy Ford at safety against the Patriots, but the special teams missed his presence.

The depth of the safety position was always one of the bigger question marks on this Green Bay Packers defense, and it may continue to be tested this week as Adrian Amos remains in concussion protocol.

Amos can come out of the protocols at any time once he is cleared, but it remains to be seen if that will be the case before the Packers take on the New York Giants in London this week.

Behind Amos and Darnell Savage on the depth chart are Rudy Ford, Dallin Leavitt, and Tariq Carpenter.

Ford has 594 career defensive snaps, according to PFF, with 423 coming last season. Leavitt, meanwhile, has 376 career defensive snaps of his own, with 255 coming in 2021. So it’s not as if either has never seen the field, but it’s quite clear that both are in Green Bay to be special teams players.

Prior to the season, GM Brian Gutekunst would mention that the Packers went “out of character” this offseason by signing players whose primary impact will most likely be on special teams. And while he didn’t mention Ford or Leavitt by name, you can include them in that group.

With the addition of Quay Walker at linebacker, and perhaps along with the question marks around the safety depth, the role of the third safety has all but disappeared from the Packers’ defense this season. But with Amos exiting last Sunday’s game early on, Ford was called upon.

In total, Ford played 44 defensive snaps, including 16 in the box and 24 at free safety, while totaling seven tackles, no misses, and allowing zero receptions on two targets. He was even the Packers’ second-highest graded defender by PFF’s metrics.

Overall, head coach Matt LaFleur was very pleased with Ford’s performance.

“I think he did an outstanding job. Playing with great effort first and foremost, but just doing his responsibility,” said LaFleur on Wednesday. “Certainly, you felt his presence out there in terms of his physicality; I want to say he had seven tackles. I thought he did a really good job.”

With Bailey Zappe at quarterback for New England, the Packers and Ford weren’t exactly facing a pass-first offense, and in all likelihood, that won’t be the case again this week, even if Daniel Jones is under center. Entering Week 4, the New York Giants, who are led by Saquon Barkley, rank fourth in rush attempts per game.

The trickle-down effect, however, of Ford taking defensive snaps is that he wasn’t utilized as often on the punt coverage unit, playing just nine total special teams snaps (or 28%) against the Patriots.

As the gunner, Ford played a key role in Tampa Bay, where we saw five of Pat O’Donnell’s seven punts downed inside the Tampa Bay 15-yard line. In a close game where field position was vital, Ford, O’Donnell, Keisean Nixon, and the rest of the Green Bay punt coverage team didn’t allow the field to flip.

This past Sunday, however, O’Donnell had just one fair catch on five attempts, along with a punt out of bounds and one ball downed. On the two return attempts, we saw Marcus Jones of the Patriots average 24.5 yards per return. For some context, 15.2 yards per punt return is the league high through four games this season. Ford’s absence may not be the sole reason for this, but it certainly didn’t help.

Ford held his own defensively on Sunday, but the depth of the safety position still remains an unknown, especially if the Packers find themselves without Amos against a pass-happy team. Green Bay may also feel the effects of Amos’ absence on special teams if they choose to take the same approach with Ford moving forward, as they did against New England.

Rudy Ford and Keisean Nixon making huge difference on Packers punt coverage unit

The combination of punter Pat O’Donnell and “fliers” Rudy Ford and Keisean Nixon are helping the Packers consistently cover punts through 3 games.

The Green Bay Packers offense has been in search of consistency through three games, but unlike in past seasons, the play of the punt coverage unit hasn’t been magnifying those mistakes or missed opportunities by the offense. Instead, they’ve been putting the defense in positions to be successful.

The success behind the Packers punt coverage unit, of course, begins with punter Pat O’Donnell. In three games, O’Donnell is ranked ninth in punting average and second with nine punts inside the 20-yard line, and he has just one touchback per PFF.

But also playing key roles in this unit’s success are gunners (or fliers as Rich Bisaccia calls them) Rudy Ford and Keisean Nixon, which was on full display in Tampa Bay this past Sunday.

“You guys can feel those guys getting down there, both Keisean (Nixon) and Rudy (Ford),” LaFleur said of the punt team’s fliers via SI. “They can cover up a lot of … mistakes in your coverage lanes, fanning the field. They forced a lot of fair catches. Obviously, Pat had an amazing day punting the football. Just their ability to get down and win their one-on-ones or win a double-team on the outside made a huge difference in our punt unit.”

As LaFleur mentions, Ford and Nixon’s ability to get downfield with their speed and beat the jammers has helped erase some issues with lane integrity in coverage. It has also resulted in a number of fair catches, which obviously doesn’t even allow the return man the opportunity to pick up yardage.

Ford forced three fair catches in Tampa Bay, and Nixon downed a punt at the 2-yard line.

Currently, the Packers punt coverage unit has forced six fair catches, which is tied for the second most in the NFL. Out of seven punts by O’Donnell on Sunday, Bucs return man Jaelon Darden had only three return attempts. Overall, the 8.3 yards per return that this coverage unit has allowed ranks 14th.

The value of this was evident against the Bucs. In a close game where both offenses struggled to move the ball, one miscue from the punt coverage unit could have flipped the field position battle and been the difference between winning and losing. It’s certainly fair to question whether or not the Packers win a game like this last season, given their special teams issues.

Changes to the special teams unit as a whole began with the hiring of Rich Bisaccia, but we’ve also seen how the organization views special teams shift as well. Prior to the regular season beginning, GM Brian Gutekunst mentioned that the Packers went “out of character” this offseason in an effort to improve the special teams unit.

What he meant by this was in the past, the Packers had prioritized offensive and defensive contributions when making additions. But this offseason, the Packers made several special teams specific additions, or in other words, signing players whose primary responsibilities come on special teams.

Both Ford and Nixon are examples of this, as is Dallin Leavitt, who is tied for second on the team in special teams snaps while playing on four different units, and he’s also tied for the team lead in tackles.

From Week 1 to Week 2 to Week 3, we’ve seen improvements from the Packers’ special teams unit overall, and collectively as a group, they rank 14th by DVOA – a far cry from where they’ve been ranked in previous years.

If the Packers are going to rely more heavily on their defense to lead them to victory this season, that group also has to be put in positions to be successful. And for the most part, the punt coverage unit has done just that.

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