The Green Bay Packers are going to unveil a new defense with Jonathan Gannon as the defensive coordinator. Star safety Xavier McKinney gave fans a sneak peek into what they should expect to see from Gannon in a recent interview with Stacey Dales of NFL Network.
McKinney noted that the biggest thing to take away right now is the team using a three-safety look.
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@nflnetwork #GoPackGo“The talk has been the three-safety look,” McKinney told Dales. “It’s been very fun being out there with (Evan Williams) and (Javon Bullard) at the same time.”
Dales later clarified that the team is running a big nickel look. So, it is similar to their standard nickel, where Bullard is in the slot. However, Bullard converts from a slot cornerback to a safety in this look. That is what adds the new layer.
“With us three, because we are so versatile and very intelligent and have a lot of football IQ, it is hard to keep any one of us off of the field at any time,” said McKinney on why the use is effective. “Being able to do different things from different spots is able to throw a curveball.”
This could end up being the most used personnel look from the Packers.
Green Bay Packers Unveil New Three-Safety Defense
GettyXavier McKinney #29 of the Green Bay Packers
Last year, McKinney played 94% of the defensive snaps. Evan Williams played 80.6%, and Bullard played 64.4%. So, it is not like they are going to show a completely different group of personnel. However, there is a good chance that Bullard will see his snaps increase from 64% this year.
That is because they can play Bullard in the slot, but also have him shift back into the safety role. They can play with three safeties deep. Or any of the three can jump into the box to assist the linebackers, while the other two continue to layer the defense.
Of course, Bullard has slot experience, and both McKinney and Williams can shift into the slot as well. So, at any given moment, they can go from nickel to big nickel and back to small nickel with the same players on the field.
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This makes Bullard one of the key pieces of the defense. His versatility is what allows Gannon to keep the same players on the field. Bullard is a second-round pick entering his third season on the team.
During his rookie year, he played 785 snaps on defense, with 333 coming in the slot. He was mostly viewed as a safety. Then, in 2025, he played 724 snaps, and 493 were in the slot. He was primarily in the slot as a starter.
So, he has experience in both roles, and he has been moving around already. However, with Gannon, it appears the team is going to add another layer to it. Williams had 126 snaps in the slot while McKinney had 46. Those two might see that rate increase as the team gets more versatile on the backend.
We will see how often they use this alignment.
Packers Reveal New Defensive Look Under Jonathan Gannon