Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney earned first-team All-Pro recognition in the 2024 NFL season, when he intercepted eight passes and made 88 tackles. But for a player who aspires to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the only option for 2025 is to play better.
“It’s always going to be levels of improvement,” McKinney said on Wednesday. “I think my biggest thing is I like to say I have my foot on their necks. Really, it’s just going to be the same. I’m not going to let off the gas for nothing to nobody. And that same intensity, that same energy, it’s going to stay the same.
“Obviously, I know what I want to accomplish by the end of my career. And I know that in order to hit that goal, these years are going to matter. So I take that seriously. I don’t take it lightly. So for me, it’s just keep grinding, keep my head down and keep locking in on the small details so I don’t get complacent and I keep having these All-Pro years.”
Packers defensive backs coach Ryan Downard sees the same hunger in McKinney this offseason as he did when the former Alabama standout arrived in Green Bay via NFL free agency last year. McKinney spent his first four seasons with the New York Giants.
“Just trying to keep him focused on each day,” Downard said about helping an All-Pro improve. “I know that’s cliché, but that is what I’m trying to hammer home with him. We’ll see what’s next. I know we’ve got a lot of aspirations and goals, but focus on this day, and then at the end of next year we can look back and see: What did we accomplish? That’s been the approach with him. …
“Absolutely there’s more that he can improve on. That’s the challenge laid out for me is: How do I keep trying to stretch this guy to continue getting him better? But his attitude, he’s ready for anything and everything. He just wants more and more.”
The Packers began the final portion of their offseason program – properly called Organized Team Activities — on Tuesday. They have two weeks of practice remaining before the summer break.
McKinney said his priorities at this time of the football calendar concern team-building.
“Right now, my main focus is trying to lead these young guys that just got in,” McKinney said. “Trying to make sure that they are comfortable and are going to be ready to go when the season comes around. …
“The bonding part of it to me for OTAs is just making sure that we are kind of hanging out off the field, getting to know each other. So that way, when we get on the field and things start to ramp up and get serious, if something happens on the field and you say something to somebody, they don’t take it personal. They take it from, ‘OK, that’s my brother.’ Like we’ve developed a relationship together to where I don’t feel a certain type of way if he say something to me. So I think that’s what this time is all about. And I think we’ve done a great job of where we’re at right now and just continuing to build those relationships from the older guys to the younger guys, the young guys to the older guys, from all the players to the coaches, coaches to players.”
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McKinney’s contributions helped the Packers compile an 11-6 record during the 2024 season. But that yielded only a third-place finish in the NFC North, as the Detroit Lions won 15 games and the Minnesota Vikings 14. Green Bay’s regular-season losses included five to division rivals and one to the Philadelphia Eagles, who went on to win the NFL championship for the 2024 campaign.
But McKinney said for 2025, Green Bay is the No. 1 team in the NFC North.
“I’m just going to put it out there right now,” McKinney said. “So that’s what we’re aiming for. And, obviously, we didn’t do a good enough job last year at all, and we’ve got to be a lot better than we were last year in the division. And we know that.
“For us, obviously, it’s going to be competitive, and there’s a lot of good teams in our division, obviously. But we feel like we’ve got the best group, and I’m sure they feel like they’ve got the best group as well, so we’re going to see when it’s time to play.”
Time to play arrives for Green Bay on Sept. 7, and the Packers will kick off the 2025 season with a rivalry game against the Lions.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.
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