Joe Whitt Jr. gets Darnell Savage, who was previously coached by Anthony Campanile. What a small world.
The Washington Commanders had former Green Bay Packers first-round pick Darnell Savage in for a visit on Monday. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Savage has signed with the team, following the injury of Will Harris, who fractured his fibula in Week 3.
Savage was drafted as a safety in Mike Pettine’s scheme, which leaned heavily into man coverage. After his second year in the league, he was coached up by defensive coordinator Joe Barry, who had a quarters-based system that involved two-high safeties as run-fitters more than true coverage defenders. It was always a square peg in a round hole situation with Savage under Barry, but the Packers kept Savage around until his fifth-year option expired in the 2024 offseason. In total, he played 72 games with 69 starts for Green Bay over five years.
Last offseason, Savage signed a three-year, $21 million contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He started all 13 games that he was active for last year, but came off the bench for the Jaguars in the first two games of the 2025 season before he was released. Jacksonville’s defensive coordinator is former Packers linebackers coach Anthony Campanile, who joined Green Bay for the 2024 season with the added title of run game coordinator.
Now, Savage will be coached by Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr., who spent the 2008 through 2018 seasons with the Packers, but his time never overlapped with Savage’s tenure with the team. There’s a good chance that Savage eventually starts for Washington down the line, due to Harris’ injury.
Category: General Sports
