Let’s pick the best from a surprisingly deep group of safeties!
In our continuing series on the Packers All-Quarter Century Team, let’s take a look at the last line of defense from a surprisingly strong crop of candidates!
While the Packers had a good run of developing their own safety prospects early in the century, this may actually be the best free agent position on the team of late, and it will be interesting to see who our readers go to as their second choice after what I assume will be a landslide for number one. On that note…
Safety Nominees
Note: All stats shown are as a member of the Green Bay Packers only, from the 2000 through 2024 seasons only.
Nick Collins (2005-2011)
3x Pro Bowl, 3x Second Team All Pro
Regular season stats: 95 games, 21 INT, 507 Return Yards, 4 TDs, 68 PDs, 6 FF, 4 FR, 1 TD, 421 T, 345 Solo, 1 Sack
Postseason stats: 7 games, 1 INT, 37 yards, 1 TD, 2 PD, 22 tackles (all solo).
On September 18th, 2011, Carolina Panther running back Jonathan Stewart attempted to hurdle Nick Collins and didn’t make it. The crown of Collins’ head hit Stewart awkwardly compressing his neck, resulting in a serious herniated disc that required cervical fusion surgery, ending his career.
Of all of the “what-ifs” in Packer history, Collins is likely the largest. He was just 28 at the time of his injury and still well within his prime, and I will argue forever that the Packers win the 2011 Super Bowl if he stays healthy. I will argue forever that if Nick Collins stays healthy for just a few more seasons, that he is an easy Hall of Famer, and that New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is not.
In the Super Bowl era, Nick Collins has the ninth-most interceptions for the Packers with 21, tied with Willie Buchanan. LeRoy Butler leads Packer safeties in picks with 38 (tied with Charles Woodson on the cornerback side), but while Butler averages a robust 0.21 picks per game, Collins’ 0.22 is ever-so-slightly higher.
It also wasn’t just about picks for Collins, as he was one of the surest tacklers in the team while simultaneously displaying elite cover skills. The primary job of a safety is to make the rest of the secondary better through instilling confidence that if they make a small mistake, you will always be there. Collins always was, until he wasn’t.
His three Second Team All-Pro selections only serve to highlight his greatness as the only two ahead of him were Hall of Famers Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed.
Darren Sharper (1997-2004)
2x Pro Bowl, 1x First Team All-Pro, 1x Second Team All-Pro
Regular season stats: 75 games, 31 INTs for 595 yards, 64 PDs, 3 TDS, 5 FF, 2 FR, 1 TD, 411 tackles (324 solo), 5 sacks.
Postseason stats: 6 Games, 2 INTs, 5 PDs, 1 FF, 47 tackles (38 solo), 2 sacks.
There actually was one other safety to beat out Collins for a first team All-Pro selection, as Darren Sharper did so as a member of the Saints in 2009, and it’s absolutely true that Sharper would be an NFL Hall of Famer except of course for the elephant in the room: Sharper is a serial rapist, currently incarcerated in Miami serving a 20-year sentence. Sharper raped and/or sexually assaulted at least nine women, although per US District Judge Jane Milazzo the total victim count was likely 16. In nearly every allegation, Sharper drugged and raped his victims, often with the help of accomplices Brandon Licciardi and Erik Nunez.
There are many great players with “off the field” issues and in some instances — where there is contrition, where there is some doubt as to the accusations, or where the person made a true mistake — separating football accomplishments from off-field issues may be warranted. This is not that. Sharper should be viewed as we view OJ Simpson, as a truly bad person who ruined many lives, and none of you should vote for him. In fact, we’re not including him in the poll.
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (2014-2018)
1x Pro Bowl, 1x Second Team All Pro
Regular season stats: 71 Games, 14 INT for 116 yards, 25 PDs, 3 FF, 1 FR, 378 Tackles (299 Solo), 5.5 Sacks
Postseason stats: 7 Games, 3 INT, 53 yards, 11 PDs, 31 Tackles (25 Solo).
The statistics on Clinton-Dix are so much better than the player, so much so that when I see a quarterback overthrow a receiver into the waiting arms of a safety who was playing too far back, I think of it as a “Ha Ha Special” to this day.
Clinton-Dix was an opportunist, and we should at least acknowledge that hey, when someone threw the ball to him, the man caught it. Taking advantage of your opportunities is a skill, and given the leverage implications of a turnover, it’s a pretty useful one! That said, we should consider the degree of difficulty on his 14 Packer picks, as the only reason a better safety may have had fewer interceptions is because they were actually playing better coverage, closer to the intended target.
Clinton-Dix was also far from a sure tackler, though occasionally he would have his moments, but he was actually a decent pass-rusher when called on to do so. While certainly not a great player, I do think that history has done him dirty a bit. HHCD was a first rounder, and that first round pedigree will dog you forever if you’re not above average, but the fact is that he never should have been a first rounder, and it will always be weird that the analytically-minded Packers grabbed a 4.86 RAS safety that high. HHCD’s 7.16 3-cone converts to a 2.89 RAS, and the Packers took him in THE FIRST. He ran a 4.58 with a bottom third vert! Just, what were we doing here?
And so it’s not really his fault that he was picked this high, and for the tools that he did possess, hey, he wasn’t terrible.
He also had three playoff picks, and in a different universe is likely something of a playoff hero! Except, two of those picks came in the damned 2014 NFC Championship game against Seattle, and so have been memory-holed by most. The other came in the 2015 overtime loss to the Cardinals (the Jeff Janis game) and led directly to their first touchdown of the game. If they win both of those games, Ha Ha is likely remembered as a clutch player.
HHCD left a complicated legacy, and there is plenty of subjective wiggle-room here.
Darnell Savage (2019-2023)
Regular season stats: 72 Games, 9 INTs, 125 yards, 1 TD, 32 PDs, 2 FF, 2 FR, 302 Tackles (225 Solo), 1 Sack
Postseason stats: 7 Games, 1 INT, 64 yards, 1 TD, 2 PDs, 25 Tackles (18 Solo)
Like HHCD, Savage brings some first round baggage to the party that serves to skew perception a bit. Unlike HHCD, Savage is an athletic phenom who ran a blistering 4.36 40 to complement elite explosion and agility grades. Also, unlike HHCD, Savage was almost never standing in the correct place and could not be counted on by his safety-mates to perform his responsibilities competently. While Nick Collins made everyone around him better by always being where he was supposed to be and always tackling who he was supposed to tackle, Savage was an extreme freelancer and kept everyone guessing.
Sometimes that gambling did pay off, and Savage has a few undeniably great moments, like his playoff pick-six of Dak Prescott. The Packers went 9-1 in games where he had at least one pick, which seems nifty until you remember the existence of “selection bias” and that Savages picks came against Mitch Trubisky (twice), the corpse of Joe Flacco (now entering it’s 7th season), Justin Fields, Daniel Jones, late-career Ryan Tannehill, etc. You know, bad QBs. He did get Kirk Cousins and Jalen Hurts, so it’s not all bad, but Savage’s great, exciting moments are not balanced out by his lack of fundamentals in the boring moments.
Adrian Amos (2019-2022)
Regular season stats: 66 Games, 7 INT, 85 Yards, 30 PDs, 1 FR, 362 Tackles (281 Solo), 4 Sacks
Postseason stats: 5 Games, 2 INTs, 3 PDs, 22 Tackles (14 Solo)
Speaking of Darnell Savage, the man most tortured by the freelancing wunderkind is likely Amos, who was incredibly adept and likely underrated for his ability to compensate for all of the nonsense going on in the secondary during his tenure. While he did have some time with Jaire Alexander, there’s also a lot of Kevin King and Eric Stokes here, and Amos’ steady hand kept everything from spiraling out of control.
While never a star, he was underrated in his first stint with the Bears, which allowed the Packers to grab him in free agency, and his incredible versatility was a godsend. Though the fact that he is so well-rounded means he doesn’t stand out in any one category, and so is sometimes forgotten.
In addition to incredibly steady play in the regular season, Amos picked off Tom GD Brady in the NFC Championship Game leading directly to a 2-yard Davante Adams touchdown, AND he picked off Jimmy Garoppolo in the 2021 divisional round at the Green Bay 4-yard line, preventing sure points from the 49ers in a narrow 13-10 loss that the Packers really should have won.
Amos was low-key, and low-key great.
Atari Bigby (2005-2010)
Regular season stats: 45 Games, 10 INT, 71 Yards, 19 PDs, 3 FF, 1 FR, 164 Tackles (125 Solo)
Postseason stats: 5 Games, 2 PDs, 21 Tackles (17 Solo)
Atari had his breakout in 2007 and another nice season in 2009, but nagging injuries robbed him of some of his athleticism over time. After a decent, if brief peak, he had trouble fighting off the competition at safety. His career had some Pitfalls and was a bit of an Adventure, but he mostly came out on top as one of the Vanguards of the position.
For a former undrafted free agent, Bigby had about as good of a career as you could possibly Fathom. He made a tackle in the 2010 Super Bowl and got himself a ring, his bone-crushing Joust with Marcus Pollard in the snow globe game, forcing a crucial fumble, was the catalyst that turned that game around for the Packers, and his 5 pick, 3 FF, 86 tackle 2007 campaign is one of the best individual safety seasons of the century so far.
He was always ready for Combat, and a well above-average Defender.
Morgan Burnett (2010 – 2017)
Regular season stats: 102 Games, 9 INT, 52 Yards, 44 PDs, 8 FF, 9 FR, 93 Yards, 1 TD, 698 Tackles (497 Solo), 7.5 Sacks
Postseason stats: 11 Games, 2 INTs, 16 Yards, 5 PDs, 1 FR, 67 Tackles (49 Solo), 2 Sacks
The former third rounder is in some ways the answer to the questions of “what if Adrian Amos was with the Packers for a bit longer.” A similarly well-rounded strong safety, Burnett was equally adept in coverage as he was in run support or as a blitzer. More than anything, he is one of the surest tacklers on this list, with 497 solo tackles and 27 TFLs (22 as a Packer).
Burnett was also a solid playoff performer, with a pick and a fumble recovery in the cursed 2014 NFC Championship game, and a pick of Eli Manning in the 2011 loss to the Giants. Burnett was a fun thumper with unusual ball skills given his physicality. He rarely had a bad game, and he allowed the defense to play lighter without sacrificing anything in run defense.
Xavier McKinney (2024)
1x Pro Bowler, 1x First Team All Pro
Regular season stats: 17 Games, 8 INT, 128 Yards, 11 PDs, 1 FR, 7 Yards, 88 Tackles (60 Solo), 1 Sack
Postseason stats: 1 Game, 2 INTs, 5 Tackles (2 Solo)
It’s just one season, but what a season. In McKinney’s inaugural season with the Packers, he recorded eight picks and 11 passes defended while providing solid work in run support. If it’s presumptuous to include McKinney here after one season, I would argue that no one else has looked so much like Nick Collins since Nick Collins. The switch from Joe Barry to Jeff Hafley makes a world of difference, but it’s also not a coincidence that the Packer secondary was able to survive many injuries, frequent missed games and weirdness from Jaire Alexander, injuries to safety-mate Evan Williams, and a bunch of different Alentines all because of McKinney’s steady hand in the back.
And this is clearly not a fluke. While we’re not using time spent with other teams officially here, McKinney was brilliant for the Giants when healthy and should remain a force for the duration of his prime. Still a few days shy of 27 years old, the Packers have a great one here. Is one great season enough to vote for him? That’s up to you.
Leroy Butler (2000-2001)
Regular season stats: 25 Games, 2 INTs, 25 Yards, 9 PDs, 1 FF, 1 FR, 132 Tackles (97 Solo), 3 Sack
Postseason stats: None
Butler isn’t just an all-time great Packer safety, he’s an all-time great safety, a Super Bowl champion, a Hall of Famer, and a Packer legend. But most of Butler’s truly outstanding work occurred in the 90s, and so here all was have to consider is an injury-plagued final season in 2001 and a still pretty great 2000 season at age 32, where Butler had a typical Butlerian season with 2 picks, 7 PDs, 1 FF, 1 FR, and 2 sacks, in addition to a ton of rock-solid tackling.
Butler definitely started to taper off in his 30s, as almost all players do, but even his diminished 30s are still better than like 90% of Packer safety play. Butler probably didn’t do enough or play long enough this century to warrant votes, but his swan song season was still outstanding.