Green Bay Packers 10 Keys to success: #10 Health in the secondary

The Green Bay Packers have spent a lot of time overhauling their secondary and for them to get back to the postseason, they’ll need that investment to stay healthy.

The Green Bay Packers are looking to get back to the postseason after two disappointing seasons in a row. For a team to make the postseason, several things have to go their way and the Packers are no different.

2016 wasn’t that long ago and since then, the Packers have spent almost three full years rebuilding their defense after the disaster that was their season-ending loss to Atlanta in the NFC Championship game.

One of the biggest holes on the roster that season was in the secondary. The Packers were starting a group of journeymen, and underperforming players for much of the year.

The best example was Ladarius Gunter being asked to cover Julio Jones almost exclusively. It’s a job he never should have been asked to do, yet he was. That’s how dire the situation was in the secondary.

Fast forward three years and now the Green Bay Packers have a group of defensive backs that they appear to feel pretty good about.

Kevin King was a second-round pick who is supremely talented and he’s likely the best corner on the team when he’s healthy. However, the problem has been that he hasn’t been healthy for the first two years of his young career.

And of course, there is Jaire Alexander who appears to be a budding star. He had some issues in his rookie season with nagging soft tissue injuries, but he certainly looks the part of a future Pro Bowler and All-Pro.

Then Green Bay has Tramon Williams who is the steady vet that continues to age gracefully. Along with Tony Brown that looks like another Green Bay Packers’ diamond in the rough type of find as an undrafted free agent.

Josh Jackson was a second-round pick in the same draft as Alexander and has the talent to be just as good as the other guys on the roster. While we did see the flashes at times in his rookie season, he had some growing pains as well.

The Packers also had a major overhaul to their safety position this offseason. Kentrell Brice and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix are both gone and to take their places are Darnell Savage and Adrian Amos.

Amos was a big free agent they signed out of Chicago. They love his consistency and the reliability of his game. While Savage is a player they traded up for in this year’s draft to grab and you can tell that early on they already love the move.

The talent is there to run Mike Pettine’s scheme to perfection, so what’s getting in the way? Well, to put it simply, it’s the overall health of the players we just discussed.

Typically that’s a standard answer for any team, but it is especially true for this Green Bay Packers’ secondary.

Darnell Savage missed time early in training camp due to his wisdom teeth and that’s not a serious injury by any means, but it did cost him time on the field.

Josh Jackson has yet to participate in camp because of a foot injury and this is a bit concerning since the Packers really need him to take a big leap this season. The longer he’s on the sideline, the less likely he’ll be able to do that.

Kevin King has missed time with his injury issues in the past. He’s currently on the shelf with a hamstring injury that has yet to be determined in terms of the severity.

While Williams has shown to be durable for the most part over his career, he isn’t getting any younger and could be more susceptible to injuries because of his age.

With all of that said, when healthy this groups potential is through the roof.

Alexander can cover the burners and quick-twitch guys similar to how he did a season ago against Brandon Cooks. While King can cover big receivers and is hard to beat deep because of his combination of length and speed.

Josh Jackson can read a quarterback’s eyes and make big plays because of it as evidenced from his time at Iowa and hopefully we see more of that this season.

Tony Brown is a physical player at the line of scrimmage, while Savage and Amos could make a dynamic pairing in the back-end of the secondary.

We can’t forget to mention Josh Jones and Raven Greene who make for nice depth pieces both on the back-end of the secondary and close to the line of scrimmage.

The Green Bay Packers defense needs to be able to limit big plays at a better rate than they did in 2018. In order to do that, they need to avoid the revolving door that has been in their secondary since 2015.

With this group of players, the secondary can reach their potential and so can the rest of this Packers team. However, if they are to do that they will need reasonable health in their secondary this season