Adrian Amos wasn’t brought to Green Bay to make splashy plays. The Packers signed him to be an anchor for their defense. A solid, unshakable presence who will be in the right place at the right time – all the time.
That’s who Amos was for the Bears over the past four seasons, and when he hit the free-agent market, the Packers jumped on the opportunity to not just sign him, but to steal him away from Chicago. Yes, he priced himself out of Chicago’s market a bit – thus the Bears didn’t do anything to stop Green Bay from signing him – but at the end of the day, the Packers got a player they wanted away from a rival in a position of desperate need. That’s a big win.
“Just by watching his tape, we knew he was a good player,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst told Mark Potash of the Chicago Sun Times. “He’s explosive. He’s fast. He’s physical. The thing [outside of his] ability when we acquired Adrian was his ability to kind of run the back end — communicate, lead it, be a really good addition to that room. That’s something you never really know until you get him in your building, and that’s been a great surprise.”
Amos, flashy or not, is part of a significant upgrade over last season’s safety unit, a group that featured Ha Ha Clinton-Dix – now with the Bears after Green Bay traded him to Washington to play out his contract – and Kentrell Brice. It was a group that was so unspectacular and woefully shallow in talent that veteran cornerback Tramon Williams had to step back and play safety at times, and Josh Jones – who the Packers recently cut – was an “important” depth piece.
Signing Amos was the first step in the reclamation project at safety for Gutekunst, and he followed that up by drafting safety Darnell Savage out of Maryland with his second pick in the first round. Savage, for all intents and purposes, has superstar potential and the plan is clearly to tie his play-making ability with Amos’ steady nature in the defensive backfield, but let’s take a step back and evaluate which of the two players is in the best position to make the biggest impact, at least in Week 1, against the Bears: and that’s Amos.
Jaire Alexander, Savage, Z’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, and Kenny Clark are going to get all the hype heading into this game against Chicago, but the smart money should be on Amos being the X-factor player not just in the Green Bay secondary, but for the Packers’ defense as a whole. Over time, the aforementioned players may make more big plays, but heading into Chicago for the first time as a member of the Packers, look for Amos to make some splashes of his own in Week 1.
The Packers are much improved on defense, but they’re not the Bears just yet, so defensive coordinator Mike Pettine may need to rely on Amos to be more than only a steady force. In all likelihood, Pettine is going to need Amos to make a few plays here or there.
It’s not like he’s devoid of the ability to make plays, either. With all the talk of how steady yet unspectacular Amos is, it’s easy to forget that he notched nine passes defended, two interceptions, one fumble recovery, and a sack last season for the Bears. The year before, he snagged an interception for a touchdown, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. Amos wasn’t there to make big plays, but he still did come up with a few.
Also, Amos’ prior experience in Chicago is certainly a huge advantage for Green Bay.
Sure, Matt Nagy is sure to add a few new wrinkles, and we’ve yet to see if Mitch Trubisky has been able to take a step forward as a quarterback, but keep in mind that Amos practiced against Trubisky every single day for the past few years in Chicago. He knows Trubisky’s tendencies better than probably any current member on Green Bay’s defense, and outside of new running back David Montgomery – who is unproven as a rookie – Amos likely has a pretty good bead on players like Allen Robinson, Tarik Cohen, and Trey Burton as well.
Having Amos in the defensive backfield will be akin to having a spy in the Bears’ offensive huddle. Will he be able to call out plays before they happen? Probably not. With that said, will he be equipped to help lead the Packers defense and put the players around him in the best position to succeed against an offensive scheme he knows? Absolutely.
The Packers didn’t sign Amos for just this game, but he appears to be in position to immediately make an impact for Green Bay against Chicago.
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