Packers Solve Roster's Biggest Need with Safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix

He would never admit it, but Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson all but forced himself into taking a safety high in the 2014 NFL draft. 

After his safety group produced zero interceptions during an ugly 2013 season, Thompson let 16-game starter M.D. Jennings sign with the Chicago Bears and then did nothing to upgrade the position in free agency.

He entered the draft with just three pure safeties on his roster. 

When the draft board fell right for him during Thursday night's first round, Thompson pounced on his roster's biggest need by selecting Alabama safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. Most did not believe Clinton-Dix would fall all the way to No. 21 overall, but when he did, Thompson got the best of both worlds—sound value and a player who fixes an immediate, pressing need. 

Clinton-Dix should arrive in Green Bay with a very good chance of starting as a rookie. 

Few safety groups in the NFL were worse than the Packers' last season. The duo of Jennings and Morgan Burnett gave the Green Bay defense zero combined forced fumbles and interceptions, the only starting combination in the NFL without a takeaway. Amazingly, the two recorded just five passes defensed despite playing over 800 combined snaps. The tandem allowed nine touchdown passes, gave up a passer rating of 148.1 and missed 20 tackles. 

Sticking with the status quo at the position ended up burning the Packers. Bad.

Instead of drafting a safety during last year's draft, Thompson put his faith in Burnett, Jennings and Jerron McMillian—three young, athletic players who were assumed to further their development from 2012 to 2013. It never happened. 

In fact, all three regressed. Sharply. 

Burnett played hesitantly for most of the season, and Jennings often times looked overwhelmed as the deep center fielder. McMillian fell completely off the map, suffering through a disastrous early stretch before the Packers simply released him in early December. A fourth-round pick in 2012, McMillian lasted only 18 games in Green Bay. 

Thompson thought so much of Jennings that he didn't even offer him a restricted tender, instead letting the former undrafted free agent sign with the Bears for a minimum, one-year deal. 

The Packers then sat on their hands in free agency, allowing big names like Jairus Byrd and Donte Whitner to sign big deals elsewhere. With Burnett, Chris Banjo and Sean Richardson representing the only three pure safeties in Green Bay, Thompson needed to find an answer early in draft. 

In Clinton-Dix, he likely found one. 

The 6'1", 208-pound safety may not be an elite athlete—he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.58 seconds and did just 11 reps on the bench press—but he plays the game faster than his timed speeds and tougher than his measured strength. He also arrives from a college program in Alabama that asked a lot of its safeties, both mentally and physically. 

In terms of being a true center field-type safety, Clinton-Dix might be the best of this year's class. Over his last two seasons at Alabama, he intercepted seven passes—including an SEC-high five in 2012—and broke up eight others. 

And while not a devastating hitter like Calvin Pryor, Clinton-Dix arrives as maybe the surest tackler among defensive backs in the 2014 draft. 

His array of abilities should project nicely into Dom Capers' complex defense.

Capers and the Packers have lacked an instinctive, read-and-react athlete at the back end since Nick Collins suffered a career-ending neck injury early in the 2011 season. Efforts to patch the hole have been mostly unsuccessful, but Thompson now has used a first-round pick on the safety position for the first time since becoming Green Bay general manager in 2005. 

Clinton-Dix may not be Collins in terms of athleticism, but he does represent the most talented and complete player the Packers have stuck next to Burnett since Collins' unfortunate departure from the game three seasons ago. 

Suddenly, the Packers defense looks like a unit that could compete in 2014. 

The front seven added Julius Peppers in free agency and will return Clay Matthews and Nick Perry from injury. B.J. Raji is also back and expected to play at nose tackle, while Datone Jones and Mike Daniels are being counted on to take over bigger roles along the defensive line. 

Standout rookie Casey Hayward will come back from a mostly wasted 2013 season, rejoining Sam Shields and Tramon Williams at cornerback. 

If the Packers can add a starting inside linebacker to play alongside A.J. Hawk, a defense so void of difference-makers in 2013 should enter next season with the potential for vast improvement across the board. 

For Thompson, his first-round pick became a relatively simple one. 

We will never know if Thompson would have taken inside linebackers C.J. Mosley or Ryan Shazier over Clinton-Dix, as both were off the board before the No. 21 pick. Each would have made a fine selection for the Packers had they been available. 

But getting Clinton-Dix at No. 21—many mocked him to go within the first 15 picks—has to be considered a no-brainer for Thompson, who desperately needed to upgrade a position that he has mostly failed at in recent seasons. 

The Packers simply let the board fall, and Thompson eventually got the best of both worlds—a potential best-player-available selection at Green Bay's biggest roster weakness.