It’s Kitan Oladapo’s Turn in ‘Friendly Rivalry’

The Green Bay Packers’ safety room has grown together. Xavier McKinney is in his second season with the team. Javon Bullard, Evan Williams and Kitan Oladapo were drafted in 2024. Omar Brown joined the Packers as a rookie in 2024.

That’s five players, all in their second years together. No wonder Oladapo had this to say after spending Monday’s practice playing with the first-team defense.

“We take our friendly rivalry in the safety room very serious,” he said. “It’s always next-man-up mentality. We’re all battling with each other, learning off each other, so I’m excited.”

Friends and rivals. That stands to reason. While McKinney is the wise role model, everyone else learned together, grew together and bonded together in turning one of the worst safety rooms in the NFL in 2023 into one of the best in 2024.

Oladapo watched most of it from the sideline. Bullard, a second-round pick, and Williams, a fourth-round pick, grabbed immediate roles in the defense. Oladapo, due in part to a broken toe sustained at the Scouting Combine, never really got going. As a rookie, he missed all of the offseason practices and the first week of training camp.

It took him much longer to get back to 100 percent healthy.

“Honestly, I don’t think I got to 100 percent last season,” he said.

When did he feel 100 percent? After this year’s OTAs, he said.

After being a healthy scratch for most of the first half of last season, he played in each of the final six games. His first big chance came against Chicago in Week 18, when he played in 50 snaps off the bench and was in on five tackles.

Since then, where has he improved?

“My body feels a lot better,” he said. “I feel like they still haven’t seen me 100 percent. So, just getting those snaps under my belt, feeling more comfortable. Playbook’s good; I think it’s I’ve got to go out there and play faster.”

Oladapo is a promising prospect. He stands out in a crowd, to be sure, at 6-foot-2 and 216 pounds. His 40-yard time at the 2024 Combine was 4.58 seconds. More than being big and fast, he’s got the intelligence needed to play the position.

“KT is obviously a big safety who can really run. You see when he turns it on, he can really go,” defensive backs coach Ryan Downard said. “He’s done a good job with his communication. I’ve spoken about this up here, he’s very smart individual, smart football player, has good instincts. So, this will be a good opportunity for him to get more reps, and the more the better for his development.”

With McKinney out with a calf injury, Zayne Anderson started against the Jets on Saturday but suffered a knee injury on his fourth snap. Oladapo was the next man up. He played 42 snaps against the Jets, got first-team reps at practice on Monday and will again at training camp on Tuesday, the joint practice against the Colts on Thursday and the preseason game in Indianapolis on Saturday.

At Monday’s practice, Oladapo intercepted Malik Willis to give the defense the win in a 2-minute drill.

“We’re all hungry,” he said of that friendly competition. “Bull’s hungry. Evan’s hungry. X, Zayne [are hungry, too]. We all try to push each other, get each other better. Iron sharpens iron.”