1) Introduction: Green Bay Packers safety Chris Banjo was signed as an undrafted free agent who had previously been with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Banjo made an impression in training camp and earned a roster spot, as seems to be the case each season with the Packers. Banjo’s strength and ability to lay a big hit stood out and earned him a spot to provide valuable depth at safety and on special teams as more of a regular.
2) Profile:
Chris Banjo
- Age: 23
- Born: 2/26/1990 in Sugar Land, TX
- Height: 5’10”
- Weight: 207
- College: Southern Methodist
- Rookie Year: 2013
- NFL Experience: 1 year
3) Expectations coming into the season: Banjo was no lock to make the Packers roster and he ended up being the “feel good” story in last year’s training camp, as far as undrafted free agents go. With the team primarily wanting depth at safety and a special teams regular, Banjo was expected to be a role player and spend most of his rookie season learning the nuances of the defense.
4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Banjo played on only 24% of the Packers’ defensive snaps with his most coming in week three against the Cincinnati Bengals. Banjo was nothing special at safety this season, neither making any type of play nor giving up a big one either. The Bengals game was a function of Burnett’s injury and McMillian’s regression. Most of Banjo’s work was done on special teams.
5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: While Banjo was a good success story coming out of training camp, he was not a real contributor to the Packers defense this season. With safety being a big need this offseason and with the successful return of Sean Richardson, Banjo could be one and done in Green Bay.
6) Player’s contributions in the playoffs: N/A
Season Report Card:
(C) Level of expectations met during the season
(D+) Contributions to team’s overall success.
N/A Contributions to team during the playoffs
Overall Grade: C-
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Jason Perone is an independent sports blogger writing about the Packers on AllGreenBayPackers.com
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I personally think that Banjo could have had a lot more impact on defense if he was given more chances. He is clearly better than Jennings, but DC seems to have an infatuation with The Doctor, and ignored his consistent screw ups. I think the reason Burnett looked so bad this year was because he was constantly trying to cover up Jennings’s mistakes, therefore making mistakes of his own.
From the very little I saw from Banjo, he looked like a sure tackler, and was decent in coverage. I think he was credited for like 2 pass defenses. I don’t even think Jennings defended a single pass this season, even though he played like 800 snaps.
If you don’t believe in the Banjo you better watch Deliverance one more time…