By Marques Eversoll

When Morgan Burnett pulled out of his second training camp practice August 4 with an undisclosed injury, it gave the rest of the safeties an opportunity to get on the field and prove their worth.

In several 11-on-11 periods Monday, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Micah Hyde ran with the first team on the back end of the Packers’ defense. When the Packers went with extra defensive backs on the field, Hyde bumped to the slot and Clinton-Dix and training camp star Sean Richardson ran with the No. 1 defense.

Richardson has come up with the first two interceptions of the summer for the Packers, whose safeties didn’t intercept a single pass during the 2013 season. At the annual Family Night Scrimmage — which has since been reconfigured into nothing more than a practice — Richardson showed great range, as he began the play covering the deep middle of the field and broke up a pass down the right sideline that likely would have otherwise went all the way for a long touchdown.

At 6-2 216, Richardson is cut out of a different mold than the rest of the Packers’ safeties.

Burnett and Clinton-Dix, from a height-weight standpoint, are nearly identical at 6-1 and just less than 210 pounds. Micah Hyde is a tad smaller than both. But while the Packers prefer their safeties to be able to play either the traditional free or strong safety role, Richardson’s build is clearly more like that of a strong safety.

With Richardson and Clinton-Dix playing side-by-side, the Packers’ safeties have clear-cut roles: Richardson can play closer to the line of scrimmage and be physical against the run, while Clinton-Dix can start out playing the center field role that he played primarily while at the University of Alabama.

Packers head coach Mike McCarthy didn’t have an update on Burnett after Monday’s practice, but his ankle was what caused his first early training camp exit last week. McCarthy didn’t have an update on starting inside linebacker Brad Jones, either, whom also was unable to finish practice. Jamari Lattimore filled Jones’ shoes alongside A.J. Hawk with the starters.

Starters rarely lose their job in the summer to younger and less experienced players, but with the summer Richardson is having, and the promise Hyde and Clinton-Dix have showed early on, Burnett can certainly feel the heat of competition breathing down his neck. When Burnett has been on the field, he’s been exclusively with the No. 1 defense; that hasn’t been the case for any of the others.