Green Bay Packers: 6 Big Questions for Defense Entering Training Camp
By Paul Bretl
Who wins the role as third safety?
Another positional battle that we will need to keep our eyes on will be for that third safety spot. The dynamic duo that is Darnell Savage and Adrian Amos form what is at the very least one of, if not the best safety duo in football. But who will be playing alongside them?
As Ross Uglem once again notes in the Cheesehead TV Draft Guide, we can expect a lot of two-high safety looks from this safety group in Joe Barry’s defense as well as them playing closer to the line of scrimmage and helping against the run. It’s also worth mentioning that if Savage does see more snaps in the slot, then whoever the third safety ends up being will the next to Amos in that two-high look.
Competing for this playing time will be Will Redmond, Vernon Scott, Henry Black, Christian Uphoff, and Innis Gaines. If I had to make a guess right now, I’d bet that Scott wins the job. Coming from Gary Patterson’s TCU defense, he is well-versed in that two-high safety look and playing in the box. He is also a willing tackler in the run game.
In the end, what we see from this group during training camp and the preseason will be the true litmus test.
Bonus: How will snaps be divided between Rashan Gary and Preston Smith?
I have this question as an extra because we likely won’t know the answer to this one until we are a few weeks into the regular season.
Last season, Rashan Gary was consistently the more impactful edge rusher compared to Preston Smith, and it wasn’t particularly close. Yet, over the course of the season, Smith consistently out-snapped Gary, and again, it wasn’t particularly close—even when it should have been.
Gary took a big step forward in Year 2 and appears poised to do that again in Year 3 after being called “the best player on the field” during mini-camp by Sports Illustrated’s Bill Huber. Gary has earned more playing time, and for his development, he deserves more playing time.
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Hopefully, we see Smith bounce back after a down 2020 season, but how Barry goes about dividing up snaps between these two is something that I’ll be watching very closely once the regular season begins.