The Green Bay Packers rebuilt the safety room in 2024, but defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley wasn't so willing to use the full depth of the roster from the get go. Last Friday night against the Philadelphia Eagles , Xavier McKinney and Javon Bullard played all 76 defensive snaps, while Evan Williams, Kitan Oladapo, and Zayne Anderson only saw the field on special teams.
The week 2 matchup offers new possibilities, though. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson led the NFL in week 1 in average depth of target (17.3) by a lot. A lot. Nobody else had it higher than 12.2, and just Bryce Young from the Carolina Panthers had it higher than 10.
Richardson completed only nine passes, but still had 212 yards — an unusual 23.5 average in yards per completion.
Now, Jeff Hafley will have the challenge to adapt his scheme to a very specific type of offense with a unique quarterback, and the young safeties may be the key to unlocking the perfect gameplan.
Usage
Against the Eagles, especially in the first half, the Packers played a high dosage of two-high looks. In these cases, Xavier McKinney was the strong safety and Javon Bullard played as the free safety, but they had mostly similar roles within the defense.
When the team played single high, Bullard moved to the box or to the slot many times, with McKinney being the centerfielder.
Snap counts:
Xavier McKinney (76 total)
- Free safety 44
- Box 25
- Slot 7
Javon Bullard (76 total)
- Free safety 45
- Box 14
- Slot 10
- Defensive line 4
- Boundary corner 3
Colts offensive style
The Packers will have to balance how they defend Anthony Richardson , and it's a bigger conundrum than it was against the Eagles. The Colts quarterback has barely attacked the areas closer to the line of scrimmage. Just four of Richardson's 19 pass attempts were thrown for five or fewer yards from scrimmage. The Colts had only one completion between the hashes.
At the same time, it's difficult to only sit in two-high coverages to force Richardson to have patience and make 10, 12-play drives. And that's because Richardson is too dangerous of a running threat.
Against the Houston Texans in week 1, the quarterback ran six times for 56 yards (9.3 yards per attempt) and a touchdown. The Colts tried to run with Jonathan Taylor 16 times, and only got three yards per carry. But Richardson's efficiency running the ball is something to be aware of.
When Anthony Richardson passed the ball, the Colts offense had a 33.3% success rate. It jumped to 100% when Richardson carried it.
Gameplan
So how can the Packers limit Richardson's explosiveness both as a runner and as a deep thrower? Enters the safety room. Against the Eagles, rookie fourth-round pick Evan Williams didn't play any single defensive snap. But he had a strong training camp and preseason.
He played most of his snaps as a free safety, but also had snaps in the box and in the slot.
If Jeff Hafley wants to be creative, he can use three-safety looks and establish variations from that. An obvious example is moving Bullard to the slot — to cover, for instance, a player like Alec Pierce —, with McKinney and Williams deep. That would offer Green Bay a heavier personnel to stop the run, but still effective enough to cover longer passes.
Bullard's issues in coverage are mostly in the shorter areas, which might not be as pronounced of a problem against the Colts.
Eventually, the Packers could even use Kitan Oladapo as a safety/off-ball linebacker hybrid. The idea is the same: You would be flexible enough to cover the deep areas of the field, while keeping a heavier box to stop the run.
It's still early to understand what Jeff Hafley wants to do on defense for the Packers. But rotating players in the secondary based on specific situations is something he can already improve on from game 1 to game 2, and the Colts offer an intriguing matchup to do so.
Related: What went wrong with the Packers defense in the loss to the Eagles in Brazil
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