ClutchPoints
The Green Bay Packers struck gold when the New York Giants let All-Pro veteran safety Xavier McKinney walk in free agency last offseason. The Giants had an opportunity to match the offer that McKinney received from the Packers, but the organization ultimately decided that the price was too high.
After putting together a strong first campaign in Green Bay, McKinney has shed some light on what actually led to the departure, via Ari Meirov on X, formerly Twitter.
“I was, but I wasn’t at the same time,” McKinney said. “Throughout my time there, and especially throughout that last year, I could tell. You can always kind of tell where a team is leaning, and what they kind of want to do moving on in the future. I had already knew, I could tell that they didn’t really want me there. I kind of knew that. But for me it was like, I still got to play well, and I still got to try to do the best I can for this team. I was still with the team, and I was still all in. But I could kind of tell the direction they were going, so I wasn’t really surprised. I had already knew that they weren’t going to go too high on a number anyways, so yeah.”
McKinney is coming off the best season of his five-year NFL career with the Packers, becoming the star safety during their 11-6 run to the NFC playoffs.
It’s well-known that the Packers had deeper pockets than the struggling Giants last March. That said, it appears that the Giants organization had other plans, while Green Bay was looking to be competitive in the NFC.
McKinney is an expensive, albeit foundational asset for the Packers defense, as they will likely use the 2025 free agency to build around the safety position.
The post How Packers’ Xavier McKinney knew Giants weren’t bringing him back in 2025 appeared first on ClutchPoints.
