Packers bringing back cornerback Davon House
GREEN BAY - The Green Bay Packers are reconnecting with an old friend.
Davon House, a fourth-round draft pick of the Packers in 2011, agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the Packers, a source disclosed Tuesday. The deal will pay House around $3.5 million a year, another source said.
House, who had left the Packers to sign a four-year, $24.5 million free-agent deal in 2015, was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars on March 4.
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The Packers were one of three teams interested in House, who completed a two-day visit with the Steelers on Tuesday morning. He was still at the Steelers' facility when he made his decision to play in Green Bay again.
"It’s a blessing," House said during an interview on "The Bill Michaels Show" on 105.7-FM. "Players don’t know how good it is until you leave. Once I left, I realized that Green Bay is really home for me. The place is special, the fans are amazing, the staff is one of the best and the locker room is full of my brothers."
The addition of House, who started 14 games in three years with the Packers, gives the team the veteran cornerback it had been seeking to replace Micah Hyde and Sam Shields. House will get to compete with 2015 draft choices Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins, as well as anybody the Packers draft for a starting spot.
House, 27, said that he felt he could add a lot to the Packers' young secondary. He said he learned a lot from Tramon Williams, Charles Woodson and Shields about what it takes to play in the NFL and felt he could pass that on to the younger players.
As for himself, he's expecting a lot.
"I’m just going there trying to make the secondary the best it can be," House told Michaels. "Hopefully, I am that guy for them. I don’t plan on sitting on the bench watching Green Bay win every week. I want to be out there playing with my teammates, running around with Clay (Matthews) and Ha Ha (Clinton-Dix) back there. That’s my plan."
The 6-1, 200-pound House started 15 of 16 games for the Jaguars in 2015, but he fell out of favor in 2016 and was benched after four weeks. He played just 25 percent of the snaps.
The reason for his drop-off, House said, was that the Jaguars changed their defense and started playing more zone. House said his game is press-man coverage and he struggled to play the other system. At the end of the season, he and the Jaguars agreed it was time for him to move on.
He'll be allowed to play a lot of press coverage in coordinator Dom Capers' system. He expects to be the guy he was in Jacksonville in 2015.
"My first year they were Pro Bowl numbers," he said. "Of 104 balls thrown my way, I gave up 51 catches, which is pretty good with four picks and 23 pass breakups. So my first year there was my style of football, but the next year just didn’t turn out that way with the defense changing.
"That’s why the grass wasn’t greener that second year. But I couldn’t ask for anything else than what’s going on right now. I'm happy to be going home.
The 6-1, 200-pound House ran the 40-yard dash in 4.44 seconds at the 2011 scouting combine and had a vertical jump of 33½ inches.
Ryan Wood of USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin contributed to this story.