GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — This is just what Xavier McKinney anticipated when he joined the Green Bay Packers.
Green Bay signed McKinney away from the New York Giants in hopes he could upgrade a safety position that ranked among the Packers’ biggest weaknesses last season. McKinney has responded by intercepting passes in each of the Packers’ first three games.
“I expected to do this,” McKinney said Sunday after the Packers’ 30-14 victory at Tennessee. “I know where I want to get and what I want to do and what I want to accomplish.”
McKinney’s fast start has exemplified the Packers’ opportunistic defense under new coordinator Jeff Hafley. The Packers (2-1) lead the NFL with nine takeaways and already have intercepted seven passes, matching their 2023 season total.
They’ll try to keep it going Sunday when they host the NFC North-leading Minnesota Vikings (3-0).
“We’re bonding, man, and we’re building something special,” McKinney said. “We’re trying to make this year’s defense a special group and right now, I think we’re doing a great job of doing that. We’re just going to keep trying to improve and figure out where we can take a step forward each week.”
His presence has enabled Green Bay’s safety production to take a giant leap. The Packers allowed their top three safeties from last season to depart, as Darnell Savage signed with Jacksonville and Jonathan Owens headed to Chicago while Rudy Ford remains a free agent.
Green Bay believed it could upgrade at safety by signing McKinney to a four-year, $67 million deal. The Packers also addressed the position in the draft by selecting Georgia’s Javon Bullard in the second round and Oregon’s Evan Williams in the fourth.
McKinney has never reached a Pro Bowl, but the 2020 second-round pick from Alabama had been productive with the New York Giants. He joined Tampa Bay’s Jordan Whitehead as the only players to total at least 250 tackles, eight interceptions and 25 passes defensed from 2021-23.
He’s taken his game up a level since arriving in Green Bay.
In his first defensive series as a Packer, McKinney picked off a pass from Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts and returned it to the Eagles’ 19-yard line to set up a field goal. One week later, McKinney intercepted a pass from Indianapolis’ Anthony Richardson after the Colts had reached Green Bay’s 30.
“He obviously is a ball magnet,” cornerback Jaire Alexander said after the Packers’ 16-10 victory over the Colts.
McKinney picked off a third pass Sunday against the Titans as part of the Green Bay defense’s eight-sack, three-takeaway performance. He’s the only NFL player with as many as three interceptions this season.
He’s the first player to intercept a pass in each of his first three games with a team since Cortland Finnegan did it for the St. Louis Rams in 2012. The only other players ever to intercept passes in each of their first three games as Packers were Doyle Nix in 1955 and John Anderson in 1978.
Hafley says McKinney’s contributions go beyond those interceptions. He praises the way McKinney has guided the younger safeties on this roster.
“He’s kind of being the captain back there, the quarterback there and he’s done a really nice job with that,” Hafley said last week. “But that’s exactly what I expected. He’s a great football player.”
McKinney says he considered Green Bay an ideal fit in free agency because he saw all the playmakers on this defense and believed he could help the Packers build something special on this side of the ball.
He couldn’t have scripted a better start for himself.
“My coaches believe in me, my teammates believe in me, and it’s been special,” McKinney said. “I’m going to keep doing what I do, going out there and playing hard for them and doing everything that I can to prove them right.”
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