Paul Bretl | 8/7/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. — During Thursday’s practice, while the Packers went through individual drills as part of their daily training camp routine, off to the side without his helmet and going through various exercises with the training staff was safety Xavier McKinney.
It turns out that McKinney is working through a calf injury.
“I’ll be good,” McKinney said at his locker on Thursday. “I’ll be ready. I’ll be ready when — I’ll be ready.”
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McKinney wasn’t going to put any specific timeline on his return to the field, but he’s “probably not” going to play in any of the Packers’ preseason games. But what about Week 1 against Detroit on September 7th?
“Week 1,” McKinney said. “Yeah, I’ll be ready.”
As McKinney described, the injury was not one that popped up, but instead has been lingering a little bit.
“I’m just kinda going with the plan,” McKinney said. “Obviously glad that we caught it when we caught it, so just kinda trying to take it slow and then the buildup obviously. But I’ll be ready when it’s time to go, for sure.”
In McKinney’s first season with the Packers in 2024, he put together an All-Pro year, which included coming away with eight interceptions, the second-most in the NFL.
McKinney quickly emerged as a leader on this Packers’ team last season. As LaFleur described, he is “an extension of the coaching staff” when he’s on the field, and his impact goes well beyond his own column on the stat sheet. His presence makes those around him better as well.
“Man, X, it gives you another confidence level at corner or at nickel or at backer,” Nate Hobbs said of playing next to McKinney. “You know you don’t have to be totally perfect. That’s the goal, to strive for perfection, but everybody knows we not perfect. So you can depend on somebody like that, a caliber player like X. I knew that since my last team at the Raiders, I seen him, played against, and knew this guy was a dude.”
Without McKinney on the practice field Thursday, Evan Williams and Javon Bullard were the two safeties when Green Bay was in their base 4-3 defense. When in nickel, Bullard moved to the slot, while Zayne Anderson lined up deep with Williams.