Dealing with injuries, Packers find themselves very thin at safety
Following the Green Bay Packers’ second preseason game against the New Orleans Saints, the team finds themselves awfully thin at the safety position.
Darnell Savage injured his hamstring during warmups prior to the Packers’ annual Family Night practice, and he has been sidelined since. He will hopefully be available come Week 1.
Dallin Leavitt would injure his shoulder against the San Francisco 49ers, and as Matt LaFleur said, he is expected to be out “a while.”
Both Innis Gaines (hamstring) and Tariq Carpenter (knee) have missed practice recently, and both were inactive against New Orleans.
Then the most recent injury happened to Vernon Scott in the Saints game, as he left with what looked like a shoulder injury.
This leaves the Packers with veteran starter Adrian Amos and expected backup Shawn Davis, plus Micah Abernathy, who was signed just over a week ago after playing the USFL, and De’Vante Cross, who was signed earlier in the week.
Depending on the availability of Gaines, Carpenter, and Scott in the coming days, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Packers pick up another safety before Thursday’s final preseason game. With Amos not playing, as currently constructed, that would leave the Packers with only three active safeties for that game.
Scott had emerged as the Packers’ go-to third safety, often lining up next to Amos with the starting defense during Savage’s absence. He brings versatility to this defense, having lined up all over the field at TCU.
Davis has seen some reps with the ones as well and he continues to make splash plays, oftentimes finding himself around the football. We saw this on Friday as he came away with a fumble recovery on Friday night. However, on Chris Olave’s late second-quarter touchdown, it did look like Davis was late getting over to help in coverage.
The safety depth was one of the big question marks facing this Green Bay Packers team prior to training camp beginning, given the lack of experienced depth on the roster. We have since seen the emergence of Scott, Davis continuing to make plays, and the addition of Leavitt, all of which helped create a rosier outlook at the position.
However, a slew of injuries in recent weeks has zapped some of that momentum.
