Packers safety Micah Hyde has made a seamless transition from cornerback, according to coach Mike McCarthy. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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Green Bay — Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was the 21st overall pick in May, the player taken by Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson to rescue a hurting position.

Micah Hyde? The 159th pick two years ago. A cornerback.

Yet through organized team activities...and minicamp...and the first two practices of training camp, Hyde is still taking all reps with the No. 1 defense as Clinton-Dix works with the second unit.

No, this is no longer mere make-the-rookie-earn-it fodder.

"Seamless," coach Mike McCarthy said of Hyde's transition to safety. "Micah Hyde is a football player. I think you can line him up anywhere. You really can."

So after a crash course in the spring, it's now Hyde's job to lose playing next to Morgan Burnett.

The reasoning is simple.

Clinton-Dix might be the one who shined at safety in the Southeastern Conference. The rangy 6-foot-1, 208-pounder is built like a boxer with a long, deadly reach. He totaled seven interceptions and 15 pass breakups with Alabama the last two seasons.

But Hyde is the one with 439 snaps of experience in a complicated Packers defense.

That experience — learning in real time how all 11 players in coordinator Dom Capers' scheme must operate on a string — is (for now) more valuable than anything Clinton-Dix has done to date.

Hyde's goal is "definitely" to start Week 1 at Seattle.

"My goal is to be on the field," Hyde said. "Whether it's safety or whatever other position, I want to be on the field. That's what I came here Day 1 to do. That's what I see myself doing."

Next to quarterback, the safety position might be the most difficult to learn in Green Bay. They can't step in and freelance. Master the calls, understand what everyone's job is, coaches say, and turnovers will burst organically.

Hyde's experience as Green Bay's slot cornerback last year inched him closer to such mastery.

As Hyde explains, the key to playmaking is knowing the responsibility of others. Know where your help is — where a linebacker is shading, where a cornerback is leveraging a receiver — and then the safety can take a well-timed gamble.

"Exactly," Hyde said. "With knowing where your help is, yeah."

He agrees this a process. This takes time.

At cornerback last season, Hyde finished with 54 tackles (38 solo), one sack, four pass breakups and no interceptions. Now, Casey Hayward returns from his season-ending hamstring injury.

"I love the defense," Hyde said. "I love the defense that we run. Dom does a good job of getting guys in the right positions to make plays."

And he knows it'd be easy for some safeties not to embrace such a defense because players aren't allowed to simply tee off.

"I know exactly what you mean," Hyde said. "I love this defense. Coming in last year, it was something new to me. I had never run anything like this. But I enjoy it."

At the moment, Hyde may be operating at a higher gear than Clinton-Dix, yet the rookie insists the Packers' scheme is not that drastically different from what he ran at Alabama.

It is still "most definitely" his goal to start, too. First, he'll need to gain the trust of coaches.

In Alabama's defense, safety Vinnie Sunseri handled the calls on his side of the field and Clinton-Dix managed his side. When Sunseri tore an ACL in late October, Clinton-Dix assumed more responsibility — the Packers touted Clinton-Dix's NFL-readiness on draft day.

Clinton-Dix hasn't been told if he'll be getting any first-team reps. He believes he can still win the safety job working with the No. 2 unit, and the safety also dismissed the suggestion that he's not playing fast quite yet.

"That's the most important thing — play fast without thinking," Clinton-Dix said. "When you think, that means you're not ready to play. I don't think about it at all. I just go out and play fast.

"There's a lot I still have to work on. There's a lot that I still don't know yet. I'm getting better at it."

During Sunday's practice, Hyde stuck with wide receiver Jordy Nelson deep down the middle to break up an Aaron Rodgers bomb. He then broke on a pass to Jared Abbrederis for a deflection.

He'll be difficult to unseat at safety.

At his locker, Hyde said he believes Clinton-Dix will be a solid player "for years to come."

"He's had some mistakes, but everybody does," Hyde said. "He has learned from them. And I guarantee, the next time a play comes up again he'll make it."

Clinton-Dix was the player, after all, taken to remedy a position that produced zero interceptions in 2013. As Clinton-Dix said Sunday, "I don't know what went on before I was here. All I know is they brought me in for a reason and that's to win."

First, he'll need to oust Hyde, and that won't be easy.