Getty Landon Collins #20 of the Washington Commanders reacts during their game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on September 29, 2019 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The Green Bay Packers are primed to have a massively talented defensive unit for the 2022 season after re-signing De’Vondre Campbell and Rasul Douglas in free agency and investing both of their first-round draft picks in new defensive studs, but there might still be one more veteran piece worth adding before training camp.
Ian Wharton of Bleacher Report recently picked the Packers as one of the “best fits” for former Washington Commanders safety Landon Collins, identifying the 28-year-old veteran as one of the best free agents under 30 still on the market and arguing that he could fit in nicely in Green Bay given their need for a deeper safety room.
The Packers return both of their starting safeties, Adrian Amos and Darnell Savage Jr., for the upcoming season, but they allowed backup Henry Black to walk in free agency and are left with third-year Vernon Scott and a host of rookie or practice-squad options to fill out the remainder of their rotation. Meanwhile, Collins has started 94 games over the past seven years and has enough left in the tank to be a role player for the Packers — either as a rotational safety or as a dime linebacker.
Here’s what Wharton wrote in his June 24 piece for Bleacher Report:
Collins is at his best as a downhill safety who operates more like a linebacker. He’s not good in man coverage, but as the NFL has embraced three-safety looks more, Collins has enjoyed a resurgence in potential value over the last two years. There aren’t many roster openings left, so he may need to be a super-sub-package weapon.
Only 28 years old, Collins should draw interest from a number of franchises. Rebuilding teams could get one of his finest seasons yet in 2022 and retain him. Playoff contenders could surely use his upside in a depth role.
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Packers Could Use Upgrades at Safety
Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst has done an excellent job building the team’s defense over the past few seasons. Throughout his tenure, he has invested six of the team’s seven first-round selections in defensive players and been adept at finding low-risk, high-reward talent on the open market, such as Campbell — who was signed in June last offseason and went on to have an All-Pro season in Green Bay.
If there is one position on the Packers defense that could use another talent injection before the start of training camp, though, it would be for their safety room.
Amos and Savage — who just had his 2023 fifth-year option picked up in May — are clear starters for the Packers secondary, but solidifying the rotation behind them could be a challenge with the current personnel on their roster. While Scott is a 2020 seventh-round pick who has stuck around with the Packers, he is coming off a second season in which he played just 17 snaps on special teams and didn’t see the field as a defender. Unless he takes a major step forward in 2022, he is a shaky third man in the rotation.
The Packers also have former Indianapolis Colts fifth-round pick Shawn Davis in the mix to be their top rotational safety after he spent the majority of his rookie season in 2021 on Green Bay’s practice squad, but he is another name with exclusively special teams experience. It also doesn’t bode well for him that he was a fifth-round pick just last year for the Colts and wasn’t able to make their 53-man roster.
Otherwise, the Packers are left with a practice-squad holdover in Innis Gaines and two rookies — seventh-round pick Tariq Carpenter and UDFA Tre Sterling — to construct their safety rotation behind Amos and Savage. Green Bay has certainly pulled off more difficult tasks in camp in the past, but adding another veteran at an affordable rate could shore up the biggest question mark for next year’s defense.