Shawn Davis Possible Front Runner for Packers 3rd Safety Role Early On

It’s OTAs in late May, ultimately, these practices don’t mean much when it comes to what the Green Bay Packers roster is going to look like in September or how playing time is going to be broken down. With that said, these practices don’t mean nothing either.

One positional battle that will take place this summer is for the role of the third safety. In 2021, that role on this Packers defense belonged to Henry Black, who was on the field for 283 snaps, according to PFF ($$). He was cut earlier this offseason and has since signed with the New York Giants.

The assumption is that with the addition of linebacker Quay Walker, we are going to see Green Bay stay in their base nickel defense more frequently, which will reduce the need for a third safety.

However, that is only a presumption at this point, and while the third safety’s role may be reduced, it isn’t going away, and there are still snaps to go around at that hybrid linebacker/safety position, snaps in the more traditional deep safety role if Darnell Savage is playing in the slot, not to mention on special teams as well.

Competing for this potential playing time will be Innis Gaines, Vernon Scott, Tre Sterling, Tariq Carpenter, and Shawn Davis, who early on Tuesday, was taking snaps as a starting safety next to Savage with Adrian Amos not present. Which as Ryan Wood would point out, would seem to make him the third safety at this time.

"“Explosiveness, athletic ability and being able to process. And then continuing to build on ‘call command’ and being able to trust you’re going to put us into the right thing,” Safeties coach Ryan Downard said via Packers Wire. “He’s starting to show all those things, and he’s just continued that this spring.”"

Davis was a fifth-round pick by the Indianapolis Colts in the 2021 NFL Draft out of Florida. He has nine career NFL snaps, all of which came on special teams against Cleveland, and he spent a majority of this past season on Green Bay’s practice squad.

With the Gators, he was on the field for 1,118 snaps over four seasons, with the bulk of his playing time coming in 2019 and 2020. During that span, Davis would log three pressures, 25 stops, and he allowed a completion rate of 66% on 36 targets and 11.1 yards per catch. He also came away with five interceptions and five pass breakups.

Davis lined up primarily as a free safety, but he had 265 snaps in the box along with another 319 from the slot as well, per PFF. In addition to what he could bring to the defensive side of the ball, that explosiveness and athletic ability that Downard was referencing could also make Davis a core special teams player under Rich Bisaccia.

For more on Davis, Jordan Reid, formerly of The Draft Network and now at ESPN, had this to say about him in his pre-draft scouting report:

"“…A fluid mover, Davis’ smarts and awareness show up often no matter the coverage at hand. Has had his fair share of turnover-worthy plays. Nearly every interception opportunity that has come into his zone, he attempts to catch each with only one hand. An unexplainable habit, Davis must learn to stop going for the highlight reel play and attack the ball out of the air with two hands. As a tackler, he’s much more effective when he can gather a full head of steam prior to the contact point compared to when targets are running directly at him and they turn into the enforcer.”"

Once again, I want to reiterate that there is a long ways to go between now and Week 1, and these OTA practices — which are ran without pads and also not everyone is in attendance — should be taken with a grain of salt.

However, at the very least, with playing time open at the Packers’ safety position, Shawn Davis is a name to keep our eyes on this summer.