Among those who see that potential in Savage is veteran cornerback Tramon Williams, who played five seasons alongside Collins in the Packers’ secondary and became a Savage fan without having seen him in practice.

“You know what’s funny with Darnell? Even before we stepped on the field, I recognized how smart the kid was,” the 36-year-old Williams said. “Most rookies, you don’t see that right away. You wonder, ‘OK, can he pick up this? Can he do this? Can he do that?’ But man, this kid pretty much knows what we’ve put in already and he’s asking for more. You don’t get that from rookies. Just not what rookies do. They’re trying to really get whatever the coach is giving them and they’re trying to grasp that. He’s asking for more. We’ll definitely need those smarts.

“When you have a great secondary, you have a lot of guys who understand the game. That’s one thing I studied about secondaries. What makes these guys great? What makes these guys so tough to throw on? I can remember one. We were all here when I was younger with me, Charles (Woodson), Al (Harris) and everybody. Man, everybody understood the game. It just makes it easier to play when you got guys who understand the game. You can do things that you’re not supposed to do. You can make plays.”