National Football League

From 'position of need' to an area of strength? Packers benefiting from safety upgrades

Published Oct. 9, 2014 10:53 p.m. ET

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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- There are times when improvement from a particular position group in the NFL from one season to the next is the result of a variety of intricate details and strategic changes. In the case of the Green Bay Packers' safeties, no such explanation is needed. The turnaround at safety from 2013 to 2014 is simply what happens when quality players replace players who just weren't good enough.

Micah Hyde was aware that would be true from the moment the Packers told him he'd be switching from cornerback to safety.

"I knew that with myself being in that room, we were better," Hyde told FOXSportsWisconsin.com.

When Green Bay used its first-round draft pick on Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Hyde was even more convinced that the defense would no longer be held back by the play of its safeties.

"It was a position of need," Hyde said.

Clinton-Dix instead of Jerron McMillian? Hyde in place of M.D. Jennings? The upgrades have been obvious, even after just five games.

Of course there's more to evaluating safeties than just interceptions and forced fumbles. But when the Packers' safety group put up a collective zero in both of those categories last season, general manager Ted Thompson had no choice but to address the position aggressively in the offseason. Thompson did just that, and it's paying off already for Green Bay's defense.

Clinton-Dix ended the no-interception drought in Week 3, and Morgan Burnett stopped the no-forced fumbles streak in Week 5.

While perhaps those were temporary moral victories for the Packers, the increased level of play has led to increased expectations.

"In this profession, what you do in September and October, people aren't going to talk too much about it," safeties coach Darren Perry said. "They're going to worry about you're doing in December and January. So we want to keep improving and getting our level of play up to where we get an opportunity to win a championship, and that's going to require each guy doing his job week in and week out and improving from week to week."

Burnett wouldn't admit that having Clinton-Dix and Hyde rather than Jennings and McMillian has helped him, but there's no doubt that it has.

Burnett is getting back to his 2012 form, playing a lot like he did before he signed a four-year, $24.75 million ($8.25 million guaranteed) contract extension in July 2013. That's a deal that was widely criticized after Burnett's sub-par (and that's putting it kindly) performance last season. But, while Burnett is kind to his former teammate Jennings (describing him as a "good player" and "a very smart player"), the truth is that it's difficult to be paired with a safety who's currently unemployed. It certainly contributed to bringing Burnett's all-around game down last season.

As Burnett showed off his run-stopping ability near the line of scrimmage in Green Bay's dominating win last week over the Minnesota Vikings, he looked like a player who had put a mediocre 2013 season behind him.

"I think Morgan has been ascending in his play all year," defensive coordinator Dom Capers said. "I think the game against the Vikings was his best game. You saw the production that he had. I thought he was very active. I think he's tackling well."

The difference between having a solid Burnett and a struggling Burnett, plus the boost provided by Clinton-Dix and Hyde stepping in for their predecessors, has made the Packers' defense much better.

"As you look around the league, the safety position is so critical to your defense nowadays," Capers said.

Adding Clinton-Dix with the 21st overall pick "speaks for itself," Perry said. And even though Hyde was new to the position, he knew the critical position of safety would be significantly improved once he saw Clinton-Dix for the first time.

"From Day 1 that (Clinton-Dix) got here, you could tell with him being in the room and with me switching over, we were becoming a better safety group and becoming a better defense because of it," Hyde said.

"Sky is the limit for him," Hyde added of Clinton-Dix.

Perry, however, isn't satisfied. He responded with "I think he can be better" when asked about Burnett's big game against Minnesota. And Perry was far from ready to get too excited about what Clinton-Dix and Hyde have done.

"They're still young players; they're still very raw," Perry said. "They have five NFL games at the safety position, so by no means have they arrived. We'd be naive to think that. There's still a ton of room for growth and that's how we approach it each day."

That might be the right type of message for a position coach to send to a group that is still remembered for its poor 2013 season. But, with Burnett 25 years old, Hyde 23 and Clinton-Dix only 21, this could be a safety trio that is good now but grows into something special in the coming seasons.

"How awesome would that be? That'd be frickin' awesome," Hyde said. "That'd be amazing. But as of right now, we're taking it day by day. Yeah, we're young, and we have a lot to learn, but we're not going to go out there and play like we're young. And if we make a mistake, we're not going to be like, 'oh, we're young, we're going to learn from it.' No. We know we have to go out there, try to be as perfect as possible and go on from there."

Hyde's acknowledgement that safety was a position of need before this season is one thing, but if he, Clinton-Dix and Burnett continue to work well together, it could soon be regarded as one of the Packers' better spots on the team.

"We still have a long way to go," Hyde said. "We're playing OK right now; we left a lot of plays out there. We should have a lot more plays made. But we'll keep improving, and hopefully at the end of the season we can say it became a very good area of strength."

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