Getty Jeremy Chinn prior to the September 18 game against the New Orleans Saints.
The Green Bay Packers’ safety room has been in a state of flux for well over a decade. Since the moment Nick Collins sustained a career-ending neck injury in 2011, the void he’s left behind on the back end couldn’t be overstated.
They haven’t sat on their hands in the meantime. The Packers spent a first-round pick on Ha Ha Clinton Dix in 2014, but despite some flashy moments, he drastically underperformed relative to where he was drafted. The following spring, they’d double-dip at defensive back in the first and second rounds, bringing aboard Damarious Randall — an ex-safety at Arizona State — and Quinten Rollins. Both players were projected as cornerbacks at the next level, but neither panned out.
In 2019, they spent another first-round pick on a safety: Darnell Savage. To this day, Savage has endured the transition from Mike Pettine to Joe Barry as defensive coordinator and remained a consistent starter on defense. However, it’d be naive to suggest that Savage has been on anything other than a steady decline the past two seasons. The only real band-aid was Adrian Amos, who excelled in Green Bay after signing a lucrative free-agent deal one month before the drafting of Savage. He signed with the New York Jets for this season after the expiration of his contract.
The Packers will have some important decisions to make at safety next spring. Savage and Rudy Ford — their two starting safeties — are projected to enter unrestricted free agency, as are Dallin Leavitt — a valuable component on special teams — and Jonathan Owens. Owens was one of three fresh faces the Packers brought aboard during the off-season to help fortify the room, along with Tarvarius Moore and Anthony Johnson Jr., a seventh-round pick who has been inactive for every game this season.
In an effort to add some stability to a position group that can only be described as arguably the weakest on the roster, the Packers should pursue a trade for Carolina Panthers safety Jeremy Chinn.
Packers Should Benefit From the Panthers’ Fire Sale
After five weeks, the Panthers are the only winless team in the league. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer suggested that a fire sale could be on the horizon as the team intends to offload certain players on the roster to recoup some draft capital that they lost in their off-season maneuver for quarterback Bryce Young. They received the No. 1 overall pick from the Chicago Bears in exchange for first and second-round picks in 2023, a first-round pick in 2024, a second-round pick in 2025 and wideout D.J. Moore.
So far, that hasn’t exactly been working in the Panthers’ favor. Moore, unsurprisingly to some, has emerged as one of the league’s top pass-catchers through the first month of the season and Bears quarterback Justin Fields has experienced a resurgence of his own.
If there is indeed an opportunity to acquire Chinn, the Packers would be wise to pounce. He’s in a contract year and, like a handful of the safeties on the Packers’ roster, will also be a free agent in March. However, negotiating a long-term deal with the 25-year-old would be a much more ideal avenue; he’d immediately become the best safety on the team’s roster.
The Packers had the chance to draft Chinn in 2020, but they opted for AJ Dillon at No. 62 overall instead. Chinn flew off the board two picks later. Dillon, the former Boston College tailback, has carried the load in the Packers’ running game this season while Aaron Jones has been recovering from a hamstring injury. Chinn’s implementation into the Packers’ defense could be a rejuvenating maneuver; his 6’3″, 220-pound frame allows him to wear a multitude of hats and fill any role.
Through the years, Chinn has played as a free safety, an inside linebacker and even as a nickelback. He’s rumored to be on the trading block because the do-it-all defender, according to Breer, has fallen out of favor in defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero’s scheme. It’s an unforeseen development after Chinn was perceived within the building as a “superhero” upon Evero’s arrival.
“We see him as a superhero,” Panthers linebackers coach Peter Hansen told ESPN on May 31. “We just don’t know which cape he’ll wear from day to day.”
Finding a Role for Chinn Would be a Great Problem for Packers’ Defense
The position versatility that Chinn sports could allow Barry to get creative with the usage of some of his defensive backs. The Packers are already going to have to shuffle some pieces around with the return of Eric Stokes, who has until October 24 to be activated to the 53-man roster from the physically unable-to-perform list. That would likely bump Keisean Nixon out of the slot — and out of the lineup entirely — and Rasul Douglas inside so Stokes can fill in on the boundary. Matters could get complicated with Chinn’s arrival, but it wouldn’t be a terrible problem to have.
It doesn’t help that the Packers don’t often deploy three safeties on the field at the same time — at least not as much as they used to under Pettine. That philosophy could change if Chinn was in the picture — the Packers would likely be much more obligated to get him on the field as opposed to someone like Owens or Leavitt.
According to Pro Football Focus, Chinn is responsible for 15 solo tackles this season — another five assisted — and he’s been tabbed with two missed tackles. He has nine stops, which is imperative for the Packers, whose effort against the opposing running game this season has been below average. He’s struggled in coverage, with opposing quarterbacks completing eight of their 10 passing attempts against him for 95 yards, one touchdown and a 139.6 passer rating. Of safeties in the league with at least 10 targets into their coverage this season, Chinn’s passer rating is the highest. Kyle Dugger, who has been targeted 15 times, is the next closest at 139.0.
A change of scenery could be ideal for someone like Chinn, who has found little success in Carolina. In 47 games, he has just two interceptions with 17 defended passes and three forced fumbles — two of which were returned for touchdowns. After securing 294 tackles through his first three seasons with the Panthers, he has just 23 so far this year while playing a career-low 55% of their defensive snaps, according to Pro Football Reference.
Chinn’s prior shortcomings don’t necessarily mean the Packers should be cautious with their approach, but for a team that has gone above and beyond to emphasize their well-documented youth movement, he wouldn’t go against the grain or contradict their newfound belief in getting younger. Sitting at 2-3 and on the heels of back-to-back losses, the season also isn’t lost. The Packers always expected a sporadic campaign as they transitioned to a new signal-caller in Jordan Love; the rest of the team needs to learn how to win and they need to learn how together.
With Chinn in the mix on defense, his presence and experience could be beneficial both on the field and off of it. The Packers need a tenacious defender in run support and certainly can’t turn their nose up at the prospect of added leadership in the secondary.
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