Can newcomer Dallin Leavitt be an elite special teams player for Packers?
By the start of the regular season, there’s a chance that the Green Bay Packers will have three players on the 53-man roster with experience playing special teams for new coordinator Rich Bisaccia.
Cornerbacks Keisean Nixon and Rico Gafford have been in Green Bay for months. They were recently joined by safety Dallin Leavitt, who is quickly carving out a key role on special teams for Bisaccia and the Packers through his first week of training camp.
According to Wes Hodkiewicz of Packers.com, Leavitt has worked with the first-team groups on kickoff return, kickoff coverage, punt return and punt coverage through the first four practices of camp.
There’s no quicker way to this year’s roster than becoming an important player for the third phase, especially for a Packers team coming off a disastrous 2021 season and in need of impact players on special teams.
Leavitt led the Raiders with 12 special teams tackles last season. Over the last three seasons, he’s played over 800 snaps on special teams. He’s experienced and has the right playmaking mindset for special teams.
General manager Brian Gutekunst was more than happy to listen to Bisaccia’s recommendation on adding Leavitt to the roster. The hope is he can be a core special teams asset while also adding depth at safety, where the Packers are thin.
“Dallin has been a pretty elite special teams player there for a few years, so certainly (Bisaccia) was excited to get him in the building,” Gutekunst said to start training camp. “Had him for a couple of days here, but he seems like a great kid and were excited about what he can do for us there. Played a bunch of snaps at safety too, so getting some more depth there is helpful.”
