On the surface, 2025 may look like a down year for Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney after his historic first season with the team in 2024.
McKinnie had arguably the best season by a safety in Green Bay history, finishing with a career-high eight interceptions, second-most in the NFL. He also caught 11 passes, another career high, and was named a first-team All-Pro.
advertise
This is a remarkable find on the free-agent market for Green Bay, which hasn’t seen a safety put up numbers like this since Nick Collins. However, it may have inadvertently created some unrealistic expectations.
In 2025, McKinnie played one fewer game than the previous year and had just 14 fewer defensive snaps, but with only two interceptions, plus 10 passes defensed, a fumble recovery and 107 tackles for loss (his second-highest career total), those numbers were still enough to earn him second-team All-Pro honors.
Rather than dismissing McKinney’s inability to sustain production in 2024 as a failure, it should elevate how impressive it truly is.
In 2024, he had an interception in each of the team’s first five games, becoming the first player in league history to do so since the merger in 1970.
advertise
Early in his tenure with the Packers, quarterbacks had trouble dealing with McKinney. Green Bay enters its first season under defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley (now the Miami Dolphins head coach), and he knows what to do with McKinnie to put him in a good position. As the season went on, opposing offenses began to take more and more of McKinnie’s playing time, and the takeaway opportunities became fewer and fewer.
Unfortunately, the offensive coordinator hasn’t forgotten the demons lingering in Green Bay’s secondary this season. According to Pro Football Focus, McKinney will be targeted just 26 times in 2025, compared to 36 times in 2024.
In fact, McKinney allowed fewer yards per catch in 2025 than he did in 2024, and had a lower percentage of passes caught in his coverage than in 2024. He also had more tackles but was credited with missing the same number of tackles (5). Additionally, McKinney allowed just 0.3 yards per rush in 2025, the best of any NFL defensive player with at least 300 snaps, according to Next Gen Stats.
So, if you think McKinney has regressed this season, maybe you’re just not seeing the full picture. Although McKinney’s interception totals have declined, he remains one of the most respected safeties in the league, and his impact can be felt and measured in other ways.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Why 2025 won’t be a ‘down year’ for Packers S Xavier McKinney