Omar Brown is a second-year Packers safety who went undrafted in 2024 with eight career defensive snaps played.
Xavier McKinney is a reigning first-team All-Pro safety who intercepted eight passes last season, second-most in the NFL.
Yet after Family Night at Lambeau Field on Saturday, it was McKinney playing hype man for Brown as he spoke with reporters after picking off three passes in front of almost 60,000 fans at practice. Brown has five interceptions in nine practices.
“MVP! MVP! MVP! Turn me up, O!,” McKinney shouted.
“That’s my dog, X,” Brown said.
“Boy had a hat trick!” another teammate yelled. “Three of ‘em!”
A couple of other teammates chimed in supporting Brown, who originally signed with the Broncos after last year’s draft. Denver released Brown after camp, and he signed with Green Bay’s practice squad, where he spent most of the year until being elevated twice in the season’s final three games. He played eight defensive snaps in a 34-0 win over the Saints and 16 total special teams snaps over Weeks 16 and 18.
The Packers’ starting safeties appear set in stone — McKinney and Evan Williams — and their next two figure to be Javon Bullard (if he’s not playing the nickel) and Zayne Anderson. But Brown is stating a convincing case for 53-man roster inclusion after this year’s training camp, and the head coach likes what he sees.
“He’s done a lot. I mean, he’s making plays,” Matt LaFleur said. “You want to see how guys respond and react when they get those opportunities, and he’s coming through, so that’s really positive … He’s definitely a guy we had our eye on coming out in the draft process. We had him in for a 30 visit, so certainly, there was some like there for him. To get him ingrained in our system and to watch him develop, grow and develop has been pretty exciting. Again, he’s making plays.”
Brown’s first pick of the night came in a red zone drill with the No. 2 defense. Malik Willis took a snap from the 12-yard line, and Brown stared him down from the deep middle of the field. Willis fired into heavy traffic for wide receiver Julian Hicks in the end zone and instead hit Brown.
His second came on a deflection by cornerback Tyron Herring, who broke up a Taylor Elgersma pass for Hicks before the ball fell into Brown’s hands behind the play. His third pick was his best, as he ranged over to cover Hicks on a Willis deep ball down the left sideline after Hicks got space on safety Kitan Oladapo. The ball hit off Brown’s face mask as he jumped and popped up in the air. He secured it as he fell to the ground.
“I don’t think the quarterback saw me. I kind of snuck behind him,” Brown said. “We both went up for it, and I just came down with it.”
Brown said he’s never intercepted three passes in a game, not even in high school, or even had a pick six. Maybe two picks in a game, he said. He picked a good time to have three, with his mom, grandma and uncle watching from the stands as he tries to secure his first 53-man roster spot in the league.
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“He’s a stud,” Anderson said of Brown. “He attacks every day like a true pro. He’s always wanting to get better, and he’s always asking questions, which I think is the first thing, and he does his job, which, clearly, tonight, he gets those interceptions. He deserves it, man. He works his butt off, and it’s cool seeing guys in the room — the fruit come from their labor. Everybody in the room is super pumped for him.”
Five things to know
1. Brandon McManus continued his strong start to camp, going 8-for-8 on kicks during team periods at his first Family Night practice. McManus is 36-for-37 on such kicks through five kicking practices after hitting from 29, 33, 38, 42, 47, 50, 51 and 54 yards Saturday. His lone miss drifted wide right from 49 yards in a mild wind Thursday.
“I don’t want to jinx anything here,” LaFleur said. “I’d rather not say too much about him, but he’s been pretty consistent.”
2. Tight end Tucker Kraft was the lone new injury. He’s dealing with a groin injury, but it doesn’t appear to be anything significant. LaFleur said Kraft had been practicing through it and wants to give him a couple of days for the issue to subside. Running back Emanuel Wilson left Friday’s practice early after suffering a knee injury that looked bad at first, but LaFleur said Saturday, “It was extremely scary, but I feel like we dodged that one. That is some really good news.”
Also not practicing Saturday were wide receiver Christian Watson (knee), wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks (calf), wide receiver Sam Brown Jr. (ankle), cornerback Nate Hobbs (knee), running back MarShawn Lloyd (groin), cornerback Kamal Hadden (hip), defensive end Collin Oliver (hamstring), defensive end Arron Mosby (groin), left tackle Rasheed Walker (groin), offensive lineman John Williams (back) and offensive lineman Travis Glover (shoulder).
3. Linebacker Isaiah Simmons showcased his coverage skills in one-on-ones, with a pass breakup against tight end John FitzPatrick on an in-breaking route and a breakup near the front-left pylon against tight end Luke Musgrave. Simmons has played defensive back before in the NFL, but the Packers are keeping him at linebacker. Remember when De’Vondre Campbell credited the Packers’ staff for simplifying his defensive role at linebacker (compared to what he did previously in Atlanta) after he made the All-Pro first team in 2021? Simmons probably won’t be an All-Pro since he’s the Packers’ fourth linebacker on the depth chart behind Edgerrin Cooper, Quay Walker and Isaiah McDuffie, but if anything, he offers intriguing depth on defense in addition to playing a significant role on special teams.
4. Green Bay’s defense had a handful of standout plays during Saturday’s practice. It should be noted that, because the entire night was livestreamed, the Packers kept everything “pretty vanilla,” like they would in a preseason game. However, there were five interceptions, Brown’s three, cornerback Kalen King jumping a Willis pass on the sideline intended for Hicks and cornerback Carrington Valentine shutting down a Matthew Golden go route before making a lunging grab on Jordan Love’s pass that drifted well ahead of Golden during the starters’ two-minute drill (unclear if Valentine simply disrupted Golden’s route that much or if Love overthrew the rookie).
In the first team period, defensive tackle Kenny Clark snuck past center Elgton Jenkins to stuff running back Josh Jacobs, Cooper blew up a Golden end-around and defensive end Lukas Van Ness bull-rushed left tackle Jordan Morgan to sack Love.
Brown had another run stuff of Chris Brooks while coming off the edge in the red zone, while Brooks got caught up behind a scrum. McKinney had the same against Jacobs, and defensive end Brenton Cox shed tight end Johnny Lumpkin for a stuff of running back Izzy Abanikanda in the red zone.
Other standout plays included cornerback Bo Melton’s impressive coverage of Golden on a go ball that fell incomplete, defensive lineman Keith Randolph’s would-be sack of Elgersma on Brown’s second interception, Cooper’s potential sack after lining up in the A gap and curling around the right side of the offensive line and defensive end Kingsley Enagbare beating left tackle Anthony Belton for a tackle for loss on running back Amar Johnson. Defensive end Barryn Sorrell also cleanly went around Belton for a sack of Willis during the two-minute drill.
5. Morgan is getting extensive work at left tackle with Walker nursing a groin injury. General manager Brian Gutekunst indicated recently that it would take a significant effort for someone to unseat Walker on Love’s blind side, but the 2024 first-round pick is getting the chance to prove himself at his college position after playing strictly right guard as a rookie. That’s where the Packers placed him last year since they felt it would be his best chance to start, and Morgan rotated with Sean Rhyan until a shoulder injury ended his season after six games. Morgan said this week that he’s most comfortable at left tackle and has been playing there his whole life. He might be the Packers’ left tackle of the future, assuming Walker walks in free agency next offseason, but is there a chance he’s their left tackle of the present, too?
“There’s been a lot of good moments and then there’s some things we have to clean up,” LaFleur said. “It’s like that for a lot of players, especially young players. What did he play, six games last year? And this has been primarily inside. To get him outside at left tackle, there’s going to be some hard lessons along the way, but I love how he’s attacked this thing and the work that he put in throughout the course of the offseason has been pretty evident. You can tell by his body. We’ll continue to push him to be the best he can be.”
