The Green Bay Packers are known for being adept at drafting and developing players. This is especially true at the quarterback position where Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love both sat and learned for three seasons before being handed the starting job. It is also true of edge rushers as Rashan Gary was drafted as a project pass rusher and is now considered one of the best in the NFL. Last year’s first round pick, Lukas Van Ness, is following a similar route.
This year, though, several of Green Bay’s draft picks are going to be asked to have an immediate impact. While this has been true in previous years as well (Quay Walker started right away as a rookie), the Packers used several of their 11 picks to address immediate needs on their roster.
First round pick Jordan Morgan is expected to challenge Rasheed Walker for the starting left tackle job. While Morgan’s prospects of starting right away are up in the air, second round pick Javon Bullard is widely believed to already be penciled as one of the Packers’ two starting safeties, the other being free agent signee Xavier McKinney.
Javon Bullard Will Be a Big Part of the Green Bay Packers’ New Safety Room
The Packers underwent some major changes on defense this offseason. Defensive coordinator Joe Barry was fired after three disappointing seasons and replaced with Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley. This change led to several others on the defensive coaching staff, including the dismissal of defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery, who had been the team’s longest-tenured coach.
Changes were not limited to the coaching personnel, either. Green Bay allowed nearly their entire safety room to leave in free agency, a group that included 2019 first round draft pick Darnell Savage (who signed with Jacksonville Jaguars). Jonathan Owens signed with the Chicago Bears and Rudy Ford remains a free agent.
In order to reload their safety room, Green Bay signed McKinney, who was widely considered to be the best free agent safety on the market. They also drafted three safeties: Bullard (second round), Evan Williams (fourth round), and Kitan Oladapo (fifth round).
NFL Analyst Predicts Green Bay Packers Rookie Javon Bullard Will Lead NFL Rookies in 2 Statistical Categories
In a recent article in which he predicted which members of the 2024 NFL Draft class would lead their peers in various statistical categories, ESPN analyst Mike Clay projected that Bullard would have the most tackles and interceptions of anyone taken in April’s draft:
“A pair of Green Bay second-rounders lead the list this season. Bullard is a good bet for an every-down role opposite Xavier McKinney and will look to follow in the footsteps of Jalen Pitre, who produced 147 tackles (second most among all rookies over the past decade) as a safety in 2022.
“An off-ball linebacker will generally lead the rookie class in tackles, but none was selected prior to Cooper this season. He projects to work alongside Quay Walker in Jeff Hafley’s new-look defensive scheme.”
As noted, he also projects Edgerrin Cooper, whom the Packers drafted in the second round, will have the second-most tackles of everyone from the draft.
He projects Bullard to have 71 tackles while Cooper will finish with 68.
Clay’s projections also have Bullard leading the class in interceptions, with 1.7 (projection number). While this number seems low, Clay notes that only 13 rookies in the past decade have reached four interceptions, and only two have reached five.
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