Packers: Earl Thomas, Eric Reid potential solutions at safety

Would Earl Thomas or Eric Reid make sense at the safety position for the Green Bay Packers?

By drafting Jaire Alexander and Josh Jackson, signing Tramon Williams, and adding Mike Pettine as defensive coordinator, the Green Bay Packers‘ secondary has definitely improved from last season.

However, through the first two games of the season, the play at safety from Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Kentrell Brice has been average at best.

Clinton-Dix and Brice

Clinton-Dix lacks the speed to be able to roam the field as freely as some safeties and if caught out of position, struggles to make up ground. My big knock against Clinton-Dix is that last year he appeared to shy away from contact and making tackles. There have already been moments of that within the first two games of this season.

I do think that he could be a great safety in this league, but it would have to be as a the number two option on the field while a more dynamic player takes on more of the responsibilities. Since last season, for whatever reason, he just doesn’t look like the 2016 Pro Bowler that roamed the secondary.

After the Packers let Morgan Burnett walk this past offseason, third-year safety Kentrell Brice knew he was going to be one of the go-to guys at that position. He has shown his ability to be quite explosive in the secondary, but as a young player is still inconsistent.

Brice at times will still make an incorrect read. An example of this is the huge 75-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs this past Sunday.

He was unable to recognize the mismatch of Davon House on Diggs and shaded to the opposite side of the field instead of helping House. Brice has a lot of potential and will hopefully improve as the season goes on, but as of now he and Clinton-Dix as a pair continue to struggle.

Would Seattle give up Earl Thomas to Green Bay?

As the last few pieces of the “Legion of Boom” left Seattle this past offseason, begrudgingly Earl Thomas remained. He held out for a majority of training camp and the preseason while demanding a trade, but Seattle wouldn’t blink. They even turned down a second-round pick from the Dallas Cowboys for the 29-year-old Thomas, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

However, that was then and this is now. Every team, no matter how they feel they will do, goes into Week 1 feeling optimistic. Seattle was no different. When Dallas offered the trade, they still saw themselves as a playoff team. But as we enter Week 3, history is not on the Seahawks’ side. In the modern NFL, only 12 percent of teams that have started 0-2 have made the playoffs.

At this point, any sort of trade offers that Seattle receives will be viewed through a different lens as they set their sights on potentially rebuilding around quarterback Russell Wilson.

What would Green Bay have to offer?

Seattle has already made it clear that they want a premium price for Earl Thomas. In addition to any draft picks that Green Bay would have to offer, they would most likely have to send a player as well to help clear some cap space.

A player that comes to mind is Clinton-Dix. The 25-year-old is in his prime and is also in the last year of his contract with the Packers. As it stands, I’m not sure what move GM Brian Gutekunst will make with Clinton-Dix. He may allow him to become a free agent in 2019.

Trading him would help clear his $5.96 million contract that is on the books for the 2018 season, according to Over The Cap, and allow Green Bay to potentially sign Thomas to a two or three-year deal. I firmly believe that Thomas still has plenty of gas left in his tank and if Green Bay were to trade for him, they’d have to sign him to a multi-year deal.

Most likely Seattle won’t trade Thomas for Clinton-Dix straight up. They will want a draft pick as well to help speed up the rebuilding process. So what pick does Green Bay give up? A second-rounder? A first-rounder?

I would be fine with them sending one of next year’s first-round picks over to Seattle, especially since Green Bay has two of them.

Thomas’ play would improve an already very good team and solidify the Packers as one of the true Super Bowl contenders in a stacked NFC. When GMs make first-round picks, they hope they turn into Earl Thomas.

Will it happen?

Gutekunst has shown a willingness in his short time as Packers GM to bring in outside players. A far cry from how things were run under previous GM Ted Thompson. The Packers were one of the finalists in the Khalil Mack trade talks but lost out to Chicago. But it wasn’t from a lack of effort on Gutekunst’s part.

At this time however, it doesn’t appear that Gutekunst and the rest of Packers management are willing to part ways with a player or high draft pick for Thomas in return. Clinton-Dix has shown his ability in the past to be a top-level safety and Brice is still learning, so this may be a duo that Green Bay is comfortable with moving forward.

Another option at safety in Green Bay

A much less popular option in the eyes of some fans would be signing safety Eric Reid, who is currently a free agent. Reid was on the San Francisco 49ers last season and was one of the players on the team that joined Colin Kaepernick in kneeling during the national anthem.

At this point in the season with little interest, Green Bay would be able to sign a very good player to a cheap deal. One of the better free agent safeties this offseason was Tre Boston, who was signed by the Arizona Cardinals on a one-year, $1.5 million deal. The Packers would be able to get Reid on a similar contract, taking up little cap space.

In 2017, Reid tallied 66 total tackles and two interceptions in just 13 games. He finished the 2017 season ranked as the league’s 10th best strong safety in Bleacher Report’s NFL1000 series.

When it comes down to it, football is about winning games, not anything else. And if Reid could be paired with Clinton-Dix, while the Packers have Brice as a third option, I have no doubt this secondary would be improved.

Unfortunately, I don’t see either of these options happening for the Packers. As it stands, Clinton-Dix and Brice will be the starting safeties for the remainder of the year.