It was an eventful Monday for fans of the Green Bay Packers. It started with David Bakhtiari announcing the Packers would be releasing him. Then, the Packers would sign All-Pro running back Josh Jacobs only to release fan-favorite RB Aaron Jones. This release was strategically placed, as the announcement of signing safety Xavier McKinney helped to ease the pain, or hide the news.
Regardless of how fans feel about the running back situation, the NFL Free Agency signing of Xavier McKinney is massive, especially for a team that notoriously sits on their hands during the first few days of free agency. The Packers and McKinney ended up agreeing to a four-year deal worth $68M.
Playing for a poor team in the New York Giants, many people may not have heard much about McKinney to this point, which is a shame. Let’s go over what Green Bay Packers fans should know about their new starting safety, Xavier McKinney.
Green Bay Packer Fans, Meet Xavier McKinney
Xavier McKinney at Alabama
Xavier McKinney was drafted in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of Alabama. In college, he saw a lot of success playing under Nick Saban. For accolades, McKinney earned a Second-Team All-American (2019), First-Team All-SEC (2019), Orange Bowl Defensive MVP (2018), he was a semifinalst for the 2019 Jim Thorpe Award (nation’s best DB), and he was on the 2019 National Championship team.
He’s a Freak, Per Tim Tebow
Yes, those previous accolades are pretty cool. However, none of those are the most prestigious. While in college, McKinney was named a Tim Tebow “freak of the week” on the SEC Network. He was awarded this honor after showcasing the following physical traits:
- Power clean 315 lbs
- Back squat 455 lbs
- Bench 405 lbs
- Vertical of 36 inches
- 3 percent body fat
As for his measurables at the NFL Combine, Xavier McKinney showcased similar traits:
- Height: 6’0″
- Weight: 201 lbs
- Arms: 30 7/8″
- Hands: 8 5/8″
- 40-yard dash: 4.63 sec
- Bench press: 19 reps
- Vertical jump: 36″
- Broad jump: 122″
High PFF Grade in 2023
Most football people don’t put much stock into PFF grades, since the majority of it is nonsense created by geeks who don’t know what they’re looking at. However, if you are someone who likes to wrongfully tout PFF grades like they’re stats, then you’re going to be very excited about the Xavier McKinney PFF grade in 2023.
He received a grade of 87.8 which ranked fourth in the NFL amongst all safeties. McKinney enjoyed a very solid season for the New York Giants, totaling 94 tackles, three pass breakups, three interceptions, and he gave up no touchdowns while committing just two penalties.
Xavier McKinney is Versatile
Part of the reason why Xavier McKinney played so well in Wink Martindale’s defense last season was that he played all over the field and was given permission to go make plays. McKinney played deep only on 41.1% of his snaps last season. He also played 34.3% in the box, 14.8% at slot corner, and he was even up on the line of scrimmage over seven percent of the time.
For the Green Bay Packers to get the most out of McKinney on defense, they need to allow him to play all over the field.
Xavier McKinney is Inexperienced (relatively)
You can take this final point as positive or negative, and it’s likely a bit of both. We talked about how good Xavier McKinney was last season. The truth is his timing is impeccable, as he had his best season just in time for a new contract.
In college, McKinney only had a prominent role in two seasons. Of course, this is understandable due to the talent he was playing behind early on at Alabama. However, injuries have caused some speed bumps for him in the NFL.
His NFL career got off to a bad start, as he broke his foot in training camp. This limited him to only six games (211 snaps) in his rookie year. He bounced back to play a full season in Year 2, starting all but one game. However, McKinney missed half of the season in 2022 due to hurting his hand in an ATV incident during the Giants’ bye week.
In all, Xavier McKinney has started only 46 games in his NFL career, but he was get rewarded with a $68M contract. Did the Green Bay Packers pay for his peak, or does this mean McKinney hasn’t scratched his true potential yet? Only time will tell.
