Former Alabama safety leads the NFL in interceptions

The Green Bay Packers signed free agent safety Xavier McKinney to a four-year, $67 million contract this offseason. So far, the NFL team is happy with the return on its investment.

“He's got two picks in two games, but it's more than that,” Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said Thursday. “He's used in run support. He's helping some of the young players with their checks. He's playing alongside a rookie (Javon Bullard) who I think is off to a pretty good start as well. And he's kind of the captain back there, the quarterback, and he's done that really well.”

“But that's exactly what I expected. He's a great football player. He can tackle, he can cover, he can play deep zones. You know, we ran him over in the last game too, so he's a very versatile player and I think he's off to a really, really good start. I'm very, very happy he's here.”

McKinney came to Green Bay after four seasons with the New York Giants.

“I came into this year with a completely different mindset than everyone else,” McKinney said Friday during an appearance on “Up and Adams” on FanDuel TV, “and I've learned so much from this coaching staff already. They've taught me a lot, developed my football mind and I've been able to develop myself football-wise. It's been good. I just have a different mindset and know what to do and I'm trying to make that happen. …

“I'm just super focused and super concentrated. I want to win. Obviously you have to take it game by game and day by day, but I'm playing to win the big thing. I didn't come here just to make the playoffs. That's not really my goal. I have bigger goals and bigger dreams, and I know that to do that I have to play at a high level at my position and do my individual job, and that ultimately helps us as a team, as a defense, so I'm just trying to do that. Help the guys around me, make the guys around me play better, and it's going well.”

McKinney and Buffalo Bills cornerback Ja'Marcus Ingram are the only players with two interceptions through two games of the 2024 NFL season. Green Bay leads the NFL with five interceptions. Last season, only one NFL team had fewer interceptions than the Packers' seven.

“We want that to be part of history every Sunday or every time we play,” McKinney said Wednesday. “But for us, it's just about going out there, doing our job, recognizing our keys and playing our best. And obviously, hopefully we want to have the ball all the time, so hopefully we can continue that on Sunday. But for us, our main focus is to execute Haf's instructions, no matter what he says, and go out there and play with confidence and great effort.”

Green Bay will play the Tennessee Titans at 12:00 p.m. CDT on Sunday at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.

While the Packers have a 1-1 record, the Titans are 0-2, despite Tennessee's defense allowing the fewest yards in the NFL in 2024. But the Titans have the worst turnover differential in the league at minus-4 and have lost three interceptions and two fumbles.

“We saw the turnovers they made,” McKinney said. “But not every team makes the same mistakes over and over again. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. But we can't go into it with the mindset that they're going to make the same mistakes on Sunday that they made before. So we know they're going to improve, just like we improve every week. There are things they need to work on, just like there are things we need to work on, so it's kind of a reverse thing.

“But of course when you see that, you know that there's going to be an opportunity in the game and when it comes, we just have to make sure we make the most of that moment.”