2024 NFL Draft: Packers select Georgia S Javon Bullard in 2nd round, No. 58 overall

GREEN BAY – With the second of their two second-round picks Friday night, the Packers added another piece to new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley's unit.

The choice at No. 58 overall was Georgia safety Javon Bullard, the fourth defender from the Bulldogs selected by Packers GM Brian Gutekunst in the last four drafts.

Bullard (5-11, 198) started 22 games the past two years, playing safety in 2023 but starting mostly at nickel corner in 2022, when he won the defensive MVP of Georgia's national championship victory over TCU with two interceptions.

Bullard also had 3½ sacks among seven tackles for loss that season. Last year, he had two more interceptions while setting a career high with 56 tackles. He clocked a 4.47-second 40 at the scouting combine.

With the Packers adding Xavier McKinney as the top free-agent safety last month, and not re-signing three veteran safeties (Darnell Savage, Jonathan Owens and Rudy Ford), they'll need a starter alongside him and Bullard will likely be given a chance to earn that job. He could compete with a seventh-round pick last year, Anthony Johnson Jr., who played more than 300 defensive snaps as a rookie.

Bullard was the second safety taken in this draft, after Minnesota's Tyler Nubin.

The other Georgia defenders Gutekunst has drafted in recent years are cornerback Eric Stokes (2021), linebacker Quay Walker (2022) and defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt (2022). All were chosen with first-round picks.