Will the Green Bay Packers Keep 4 or 5 Safeties on Roster?

In addition to deciding which player will make the initial 53-man roster at the end of August, Matt LaFleur and Co. will also have to decide how many players they want at each specific position on this Green Bay Packers team.

When it comes to the safety position, it is one of the more wide-open positions on this roster heading into training camp. We know that Darnell Savage and Adrian Amos are, of course, locks, but after them, there will be two or even three roster spots available, depending on whether the Packers roster four or five players.

Will the Green Bay Packers keep four or five safeties on the initial 53-man roster?

Competing for those roster spots will be Vernon Scott, the only player outside of Savage and Amos with any regular season NFL snaps. Scott was on the field for 90 total defensive snaps as a rookie in 2020 but none in 2021, despite being on the roster all season long, where he was often inactive. He also saw just 17 special teams snaps after being on the field for 170 the year prior, per PFF ($$).

Shawn Davis appears to be the front-runner for the third safety role based on what we saw and heard during OTAs and minicamp. When Amos was absent, it was Davis playing alongside of Savage. Then there is rookie Tariq Carpenter, who could be a special teams standout right away–although we still don’t know if he will spend more time at inside linebacker or safety.

Rounding out the roster is undrafted rookie Tre Sterling from Oklahoma State and Innis Gaines, who was a standout last summer and someone who many thought could have snuck onto last year’s initial roster.

In previous years, especially under Mike Pettine, the third safety played a very important role within this Green Bay Packers defense. And although the usage went down under Joe Barry in 2021, it was still an important role on this team, with Henry Black on the field for almost 300 snaps.

However, this year, the role of the third safety could once again be diminished because of the addition of linebacker Quay Walker. With Walker paired with De’Vondre Campbell, the Packers will be able to stay in their base nickel defense much more frequently because of how well each of these linebackers can play both the run and the pass. This, of course, results in fewer snaps for a third safety.

One major benefit of being able to stay in their base defense more often is that it will be much more challenging for offenses to decipher what the Packers’ defense will be doing. Last season, when Krys Barnes was on the field next to Campbell, you could make an educated guess that Green Bay was more than likely trying to play the run. When Black was on the field, in all likelihood, the Packers were playing the pass.

The role of the third safety won’t become extinct, but once again, I would expect the role to be reduced with Walker and Campbell in the middle.

This then adds to the importance of special teams play for those safeties who aren’t roster locks because that is where the majority of their playing time could come. Ultimately I believe this is where it will be decided on whether the Green Bay Packers keep four or five safeties.

Defensive performance for these players will still certainly matter, but with the added emphasis we’ve seen on special teams this offseason, from the hiring of Rich Bisaccia to certain free agent additions, draft picks, and starters taking snaps on special teams during offseason programs, it would appear that the third phase of the game is taking a larger priority in 2022–which it absolutely should.

So with this being the case, if a fifth safety is standing out on special teams, he will be on the roster.

Now, it’s important to keep in mind that with special teams playing such a major role in determining who is on the roster, these safeties aren’t only competing within their position group but also amongst the linebackers, tight ends, and cornerbacks because positionally speaking, special teams is an all-encompassing unit.

Not only is Green Bay deciding on whether to keep four or five safeties, but also if they should roster four or five linebackers, or four or five tight ends as well. And if that fifth tight end or fifth linebacker can prove to be more valuable on special teams than that fifth safety, odds are the roster spot will go to that player.

For what it’s worth, under LaFleur, the Packers have kept four safeties on two occasions — in 2019 and 2021 — and a fifth safety in 2020. But as I just discussed, performance this summer will be the determining factor–specifically, on special teams.