Former Alabama safety leading the NFL in interceptions
The Green Bay Packers signed free-agent safety Xavier McKinney to a four-year, $67 million contract during the offseason. So far, the NFL team likes the return on its investment.
“He’s got the two picks in two games, but it’s more than that,” Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said on Thursday. “He’s coming up in run support. He’s helping some of the young guys in their checks. He’s playing next to a rookie (Javon Bullard), who I also think is off to a pretty good start. And he’s kind of being the captain back there, the quarterback there, and he’s done a really nice job at that.
“But that’s exactly what I expected. He’s a great football player. He can tackle, he can cover, he can play in deep zones. You know, we blitzed him last game, too, so he’s a very versatile player, and I think he’s off to really, really good start. I’m very, very happy that he’s here.”
McKinney came to Green Bay after four seasons with the New York Giants.
“Going into this year, my mindset was completely different from all the others,” McKinney said during an appearance on FanDuel TV’s “Up and Adams” on Friday, “and I’ve learned so much already from this coaching staff. They’ve taught me a lot, just growing my football mind, and I’ve been able to grow on my own football-wise. It’s been good. Just kind of in a different mindset, and I kind of know the job that needs to be done, and I’m trying to accomplish that. …
“I’m just super locked-in, super focused. I want to win. Obviously, you got to take it game-by-game and day-by-day, but I play to win the big one. I didn’t come here just to make the playoffs. That’s not really my goal. I got bigger goals and bigger dreams, and I know in able to do that, I have to play at a high level at my position and do my individual job and, ultimately, that helps us as a team, as a defense, so just trying to do that. Help the guys around me, make guys around me play better, and it’s been going well.”
McKinney and Buffalo Bills cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram are the only players with two interceptions two games into the 2024 NFL season. Green Bay leads the NFL with five interceptions. Last season, only one NFL team had fewer interceptions than the Packers’ seven.
We want that to be a part of the story every Sunday or every time whenever we play,” McKinney said on Wednesday. “But for us, it’s just to go out there, execute and just do our jobs, read our keys and execute to the best of our ability. And, hopefully, obviously, we want to always get the ball, so, hopefully, we can keep that going on Sunday. But for us, our main focus is to just execute the calls by Haf, whatever he calls, and go out there and play with confidence and play with great effort.”
Green Bay plays the Tennessee Titans at noon CDT Sunday at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
While the Packers are 1-1, the Titans are 0-2, even though Tennessee’s defense has yielded the fewest yards in the NFL in 2024. But the Titans have the worst turnover margin in the league at minus-4 and have lost three interceptions and two fumbles.
“But, obviously, when you see that, you know that there’s going to be some opportunity in the game, and when that comes, we’ve just got to make sure that we do a great job of seizing that moment.”
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