2020 Packers Free Agents: Green Bay could be losing some depth at safety

Each winter, Acme Packing Company breaks down the Green Bay Packers’ roster from the previous year by position to examine the team’s performance and needs in the offseason. We continue our look at the safeties.

The starting safeties for the Green Bay Packers should be fixtures for years to come, with Adrian Amos entering year two of a four year deal and Darnell Savage entering his second full season in the league. Behind them, however, things are more in flux, as two of their primary backups are unrestricted free agents. It wouldn’t be that surprising to see either Ibraheim Campbell or Will Redmond return, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see them move on to greener pastures either.

Here’s a look at each of the free-agents-to-be.

Ibraheim Campbell

NFL Experience: 5 years
Free Agent Status: Unrestricted
Expiring Contract: 1 Year, $720,000

Because of the injury to Raven Greene and nagging (and occasionally more serious) injuries to Darnell Savage, every safety got a shot to show off. Campbell was cast more in the Greene role, but did little to stand out among the crowd. Campbell isn’t as sure of a tackler as one would expect from his physical profile. He had a few nice plays in pass coverage, but ultimately he didn’t show enough to drive further excitement.

Campbell is 28 and has played all over the league. As depth you could do worse, but hopes of a post-hype breakout are likely a pipe dream at this point. If younger, higher-ceiling depth comes along, the Packers should move on from Campbell.

Will Redmond

NFL Experience: 2 years
Free Agent Status: Unrestricted
Expiring Contract: 2 years, $1.05 million

Redmond has played for the Packers the past two seasons, but there’s a longer story here. Redmond was selected by the 49ers in the 3rd round of the 2016 draft. He went as high as he did because he was a highly touted corner coming out of Mississippi State, but suffered a torn ACL in the seventh game of his senior season. He was placed on IR before ever playing a game for San Francisco, and injuries have continued to plague him, including with the Packers.

Redmond still possesses a corner’s instincts, but may be more suited to the safety spot going forward. While safety is a demanding spot, it’s demanding in a different way. Redmond can still play both spots, but the new role agreed with him as he appeared in 13 games in 2019 For an older player he’s still raw, but there is some talent there, and if he can put a few healthy seasons together, there may be some ceiling left to explore. Redmond also was one of the Packers’ leaders in special teams snaps this season.

The issue with keeping Redmond as depth is he is likely to be injured again. That said, he is likely to be affordable, he is familiar with the system, and we’ve never seen him fully healthy.