Packers news: Green Bay agrees to four-year deal with Darnell Savage

The Green Bay Packers weren't wasting any time locking up rookie safety Darnell Savage to a long-term deal as he'll now be in Wisconsin for quite some time.

Rookie safety Darnell Savage, Jr. has agreed to a four-year deal with the Green Bay Packers.

According to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, the deal includes a fifth-year option. Savage is the first first-round selection from the 2019 NFL Draft to agree to a deal.

Packers’ first-round pick Darnell Savage agreed to 4-year deal with Green Bay that includes a 5th-year option, per source. Savage is first first rounder to get a deal done.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 2, 2019

Green Bay traded up with the Seattle Seahawks to draft Savage 21st overall out of the University of Maryland. He was the first safety taken off the draft board.

First-year Packers head coach Matt LaFleur describes Savage as “the best safety in the draft,” per ESPN's Rob Demovsky.

There's nothing worse from an offensive perspective when there's a guy that can roam the back end and just eliminate.

They can play the middle third and go either side and eliminate the whole field. There's very few of those guys. Earl Thomas is the first guy that comes to mind. It's an extreme challenge when you're playing a guy like that.

The one thing I'll say about Savage is, and you can see it with all the highlights: The guy is a ball hawk, and he's got good ball skills. We thought he was the best safety in the draft.

"It's like he's playing at warp speed."

First impressions of new #Packers safety @darnellsavage_ ⤵ https://t.co/YMbVYEEtxc

— Green Bay Packers (@packers) May 2, 2019

Safety was one of the issues the Pack needed to address before the draft. According to Pro Football Focus, Kentrell Brice “missed 12 of his 57 total tackle attempts” in 2018. Plus, he allowed a quarterback a passer rating of 150.1 whenever he threw into Brice's area of coverage.

Can Savage offset that? LaFleur and Co. certainly think so. Savage wasn't a popular pick among Packers fans. The challenge for him is to prove them wrong.

If LaFleur's description of Savage as “a ball hawk” is accurate, the latter should improve the Pack's defense and postseason aspirations in the 2019 NFL season. It should be fun to watch.