Xavier McKinney doing all he can to help his Packers teammates get better and recruit others to Green Bay
- Packers safety Xavier McKinney is being praised for his leadership and mentorship of younger teammates.
- McKinney played a key role in recruiting linebacker Isaiah Simmons to Green Bay.
- The close-knit atmosphere and lack of distractions in Green Bay are seen as beneficial for player development and team bonding.
GREEN BAY – Xavier McKinney’s eyes lock in on his target.
The Green Bay Packers star safety snakes through the crowd and disrupts the play at hand. The only surprising part is the scene isn’t unfolding on the field.
“Go, Evan!” McKinney shouts at fellow safety Evan Williams, successfully flustering him in the middle of a locker room interview.
The playful interaction marks a rare instance where McKinney — entering his sixth NFL season — has found joy in making life more difficult for a teammate.
Last season, McKinney’s production earned him first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors, but talk to anyone in the Packers locker room and you’ll realize his impact goes beyond the stat sheet.
“He's just a rare breed: a guy that has had success, but is also real down to earth,” Williams said. “I came into the league looking for somebody I could model my game after, and X has been the perfect guy to follow.”
Despite his individual accolades, McKinney prides himself most in helping elevate teammates.
“I’m obsessed with trying to help the guys around me and bring them to the level that I’m at or higher,” McKinney said. “I think that’s the biggest thing for me right now, just trying to help everybody around me evolve, I get joy from that.”
McKinney was instrumental in helping develop Williams from being a relatively unknown fourth-round draft pick to a player trusted to start six games for the Packers in his rookie season.
In Year 1, Williams said, McKinney served as a role model. He credited McKinney with teaching him how to be a successful pro by stressing the importance of establishing good habits off the field, particularly with his nutrition, in film study and emphasizing the overall body upkeep required to survive the long NFL season.
“We met all the time to talk about how we saw things on the field, and bounce ideas off of each other,” Williams said. “Having that open line of conversation, it's been huge for me being able to just be a student of the game and learn from him.”
It’s a mutually beneficial relationship.
McKinney believes that being a good leader improves his game as much as it does those he mentors and wants to continue taking steps forward in all aspects of his second season with the Packers.
“To be an elite safety, you’ve gotta be an on-the-field coach,” McKinney said.
Xavier McKinney was key in recruiting Isaiah Simmons to Green Bay
Not only has McKinney embraced the role of Professor X by coaching teammates but, much like his Marvel comic book counterpart, Charles Xavier, this offseason he helped assemble his team.
Only, instead of snagging X-Men, he contacted a former teammate from his time in New York with the G-Men.
“I talked to X, very early in free agency, and he was like, ‘I think it'd be a good place for you, bro,’” linebacker Isaiah Simmons shared of his decision to leave the Giants and join the Packers.
The former Giants teammates have known each other since they were teenagers, with Simmons sharing that this was a bit of a role reversal from the time in college when he was supposed to host McKinney on a recruiting visit to Clemson.
After just one season with the Packers, McKinney shared why he felt comfortable recommending the organization to his longtime friend.
“My pitch to Zay was that the team and staff are going to embrace him,” McKinney said, having experienced it himself a season ago. “‘There’s not much to do here (in Green Bay), but sometimes that’s a good thing because you get to hone in on your craft and really lock in on what you’re doing for your job,’ that’s what I pitched.”
One might think that coming from a large city like New York, a pitch rooted in the small-town feel of Green Bay might not be attractive.
However, it was music to the ears of 2020’s No. 8 overall draft pick who grew up in Kansas and said Green Bay reminds him of Clemson, which he described as home.
“l've known X for a real long time and trust him,” Simmons said. “He's a guy who's all about ball and keeps the main thing the main thing, so I knew with him telling me that … it was just all about how I was going to fit in.”
Green Bay’s lack of distractions can be a benefit to Packers players
Although New York City’s population outnumbers Green Bay's by nearly 8.5 million people, Simmons was complimentary of the Packers’ devoted fan base. He noted that despite the city’s significantly smaller size, it feels like more eyes are on him here than with the Giants.
Said Williams: “There's not much here, but I'm honestly thankful for it. The people here really make the town; they’re serious about ball.
“There's nothing else on the community's minds except Packers, Packers, Packers. They only want to see us win, so you go out to practice with a different level of energy. With everybody in the community watching, it’s something really special to be a part of.”
Some Packers appreciate how the small city’s lack of distractions encourages them to form close bonds with teammates off the field.
“The lack of things to do can definitely push us closer,” Williams said. “During the season, we’ve got nothing to do, so every Thursday night, it’s like ‘All right, let's go over to (someone like) X's house and watch Thursday night football.’”
The Packers are a close-knit group ready to embrace new teammates like Simmons, thanks in part to leaders like McKinney eager to make the transition as easy as possible.
“He's a guy who is going to do his utmost to try to help you and give all his resources to be the ultimate helper,” Williams said of McKinney. “I'm blessed to call a guy like that my friend. I’m blessed to call a guy like that my brother.”
As to why McKinney cares so much about his teammates' success, it’s simple.
“‘Cause we're family, that’s why,” McKinney said.
“Exactly, we’re a family,” Williams echoed. “It’s a family affair. We all push each other to be great.”