When the Packers signed Xavier McKinney to a four-year, $68 million deal in the offseason, they landed one of the best safeties in the game. However, they might not have anticipated just how productive McKinney would be to begin the season.
Over the first five games of 2024, McKinney is off to a ridiculous start, leading Green Bay's defense and wreaking havoc on opposing quarterbacks as he builds an early DPOY case.
With his fifth interception of the season on Sunday vs. the Rams, McKinney continued to approach NFL history for the most consecutive games with an interception. He'll have a shot to keep his streak alive in Week 6 when the Packers face the Cardinals.
The Sporting News has you covered on the details of McKinney's interception streak, including the records he's already broken and others he continues approaching.
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Xavier McKinney interception streak
To begin the 2024 season, McKinney has recorded one interception in every game for Green Bay, giving him five total. On Sunday, he picked off a deep throw from Matthew Stafford in the third quarter of a matchup between the Packers and Rams.
5️⃣ straight games with an interception for Xavier McKinney!! An unreal start in GB for 5th-year safety.
— NFL (@NFL) October 6, 2024
📺: #GBvsLAR on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/I9sIlUdd9B
McKinney now has interceptions on the following quarterbacks to begin the 2024 season:
- Week 1: Jalen Hurts
- Week 2: Anthony Richardson
- Week 3: Will Levis
- Week 4: Sam Darnold
- Week 5: Matthew Stafford
Per the CBS broadcast, McKinney is the first player to ever record an interception in each of his first five games with a new team.
To tie the NFL record for most consecutive games with an interception, McKinney would need three more games with a pick. Tom Morrow recorded eight-straight games with an interception for the Raiders between the 1962 and 1963 seasons.
However, the single-season NFL record looks a bit different and is already within reach for the Packers safety. Four players, including Cowboys CB Trevon Diggs in 2021, have had six straight games with an interception within a single season.
Like McKinney, Diggs' streak also began in Week 1, but it ended against the Vikings in late October. However, Diggs also had a two-interception game mixed into his streak, meaning he had seven total picks in six games.
If McKinney comes through with an interception in Week 6 against Kyler Murray and the Cardinals, he'd become the fifth player in league history to have a six-game streak of interceptions in a single season. If he does it again in Week 7 against the Texans, he'd own the NFL record for a single season.
Over his the first four seasons of his career, all with the Giants, McKinney had nine interceptions. He has a chance to match that total in 2024 alone if he maintains his current level of production, but either way, McKinney has become a massive playmaker for Green Bay.
