The specific source of the disrespect is unknown, but one of the Green Bay Packers’ newest players is sick of it.
Former New York Giants player safety Xavier McKinney, who signed with the Packers in March as a free agent, sent a powerful statement on social media on Thursday, April 4:
Xavier McKinney
@mckinney15__
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Done being humble with you Mf’s . Stop acting like you don’t know who I am or what I do . I AM HIM10:52 am · 4 Apr 2024
3696“Done being humble with you Mf’s,” McKinney wrote. “Stop acting like you don’t know who I am or what I do. I AM HIM.”
It’s unclear exactly who McKinney was criticizing. But even though it was ambiguous, a number of Green Bay fans praised the safety’s audacity as he prepared for his debut season with the team in the comments section.
Packers’ New DB Xavier McKinney Was Among NFL’s Elite Safeties in 2023
Safety Xavier McKinney is one of the Green Bay Packers’ top free agency additions of 2024.
McKinney, who inked a four-year deal worth a total of $67 million with the organization, was perhaps the best free agent pickup made by Green Bay. Based on his yearly average compensation, McKinney, who will be 25 years old when the NFL season begins, is now the fourth-highest paid safety in the league.
Considering that the Jacksonville Jaguars signed former first-round selection and five-year starter Darnell Savage as a free agent, the Packers’ expenditure at safety wasn’t all that shocking. Nevertheless, McKinney has only received modest recognition in his four seasons in the league since the Giants selected him out of the University of Alabama in the second round (at pick No. 36 overall) in 2020.
Despite his lack of All-Pro or Pro Bowl accolades, the safety was a superior defender in 2023 according to the stats. Out of 95 players who saw enough snaps to be eligible for the position, Pro Football Focus ranked him as the fourth-best safety, and he started all 17 of the team’s games in the previous campaign.
McKinney was superb in coverage, recording 3 interceptions and allowing just 33 receptions across 54 targets, per PFF. He also afforded opposing quarterbacks a collective passer rating of just 52.1..
McKinney doesn’t have a long history of injuries sustained during games, but after an incident in Mexico during the 2022 campaign, concerns about his maturity surfaced. During the Giants’ Week 9 bye, the then-safety was traveling when he suffered a broken hand in an ATV accident.
That year, McKinney missed eight games during the regular season. Pro Football Reference reports that in his six games as a rookie, he made four starts.
Jaire Alexander, a cornerback for the Green Bay Packers, will be a dynamic duo in the secondary in more ways than one with Xavier McKinney.
Big skill and a big personality are what McKinney will bring to the Packers secondary, which was far from lacking in any of those areas prior to his arrival in 2024. The main factor behind Green Bay’s defensive backfield’s exceptional big-game skill and confidence before the McKinney era may have been cornerback Jaire Alexander.
Despite having a long record of accomplishments (two Pro Bowl trips and two choices to the All-Pro second team), Alexander has had his fair share of controversy and media attention throughout the years. Alexander was most recently given a one-game suspension by the team for designating himself as captain prior to the team’s Week 16 meeting against the Carolina Panthers and then almost losing a coin toss that the Packers won in the pregame.
Though the cornerback is still in the middle of a four-year, $84 million contract, there was some conjecture that Green Bay could be willing to let go of Alexander this summer. But that choice never came to pass, and in 2024 Alexander seems to be headed back to the green and gold to play with McKinney.
