The Green Bay Packers added one of the more highly regarded safeties in the NFL during free agency.
Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire recently ranked the NFL’s best 11 safeties, and Adrian Amos – who signed a four-year deal with the Packers in March – cracked the list – just barely.
Amos came in at No. 11.
Farrar believes Amos will give the Packers a versatile and reliable safety for the backend of Mike Pettine’s defense.
“Amos also showed the ability to blitz off the edge and contest against the run, but it’s as a single-high and two-deep safety that he’ll likely make his bones in Titletown,” Farrar wrote. “An assignment-correct player with impressive field range and closing ability, Amos has the potential to become one of the league’s best deep safeties. He’ll certainly have the opportunity in his new home.”
The Packers desperately needed to add a quality player at safety this offseason. The starting duo of Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Kentrell Brice wasn’t good enough for much of last year, and now both are gone.
Amos and rookie Darnell Savage could give Pettine an interchangeable set of safeties, even if Amos is more of a traditional strong safety.
“If you had to say, Adrian would probably lean towards being a strong safety, and Darnell obviously leaning towards free safety,” Pettine said last month. “But they’re interchangeable. … You want them to major in what they’re best at, but I think both of them can do it all.”
Just for reference’s sake: Clinton-Dix, who signed with the Bears, did not make the list.
