GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Before the season started, safety Darnell Savage said the Green Bay Packers’ defense looked even better on the field than it did on paper.

It’s the other way around now.

While the Packers rank fifth in the NFL in both fewest yards and points allowed, they've looked a whole lot worse on the field during their 3-2 start.

Their latest outing, the 27-22 loss to the New York Giants in London, featured five straight possessions -- three touchdowns and two field goals -- without a defensive stop.

How can a defense with seven former first-round picks and four high-priced free agent signings have showings like that? Or let Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson run wild -- and wide open -- on them in the season opener?

If talent isn’t a question, that leaves two possibilities: either defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s scheme/playcalling is flawed or he doesn’t have players in the right position.

It would appear Barry has come around to both possibilities heading into the Sunday game against the 3-2 New York Jets (1 p.m. ET, Fox), especially as it pertains to his underperforming secondary.

“We’ve looked long and hard at that this week, being able to allow our guys to be aggressive and go get in people’s face,” Barry said this week. “I think we have the guys to be able to do that, and we can do that, and we will do that moving forward.”

Something has to change in the back end of the defense. The Packers rank last in the NFL in pass breakups through the first five games. What’s even worse is the team with the next fewest PBUs has twice as many (14) as the Packers do (seven). And they’ve been fooled several times on crossing routes, leaving receivers and running backs wide open.

Barry isn’t going to abandon his zone-heavy scheme altogether, but for the first time this season, he acknowledged this week he may have to make changes.

He also sounded willing to move players around -- specifically Rasul Douglas, the cornerback who was one of their biggest playmakers on defense last season. He didn’t join the Packers until early October last year, but from Week 8 until the regular season, he had five interceptions (including a game-clinching pick in the end zone at Arizona and two others returned for touchdowns). No one in the NFL had more picks from Week 8 on than Douglas.

Last season, Douglas played almost exclusively outside, in large part because cornerback Jaire Alexander was out with a shoulder injury. Douglas played all but 13 of his total snaps last season either at right cornerback or left cornerback. All five of his interceptions and all 13 of his pass breakups came playing outside.

It’s what led the Packers to bring Douglas back on a three-year, $21 million contract.

And then they switched his position.

With Alexander back and 2021 first-round pick Eric Stokes on the outside, Douglas was assigned to the slot this season. Not only does that mean he’s not on the field in base packages, but he’s no longer playing the position where he was most impactful last season. He doesn’t have an interception and has only two pass breakups this season. Perhaps not coincidentally, both of those pass breakups came when Alexander was out against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots and Douglas had moved back outside.

To be sure, the Packers aren’t going to take Alexander, the former All-Pro, off the field if they don’t have to, but they might have to figure out how to get Douglas back outside.

If Douglas is frustrated, he’s not showing it.

When asked if he likes playing in the slot, he said this week: “I like it. I don’t think I’m bad at it either.”

But to this point, he hasn’t been as good as he was playing outside.

“I think I can be with more reps, more time,” Douglas said. “I’ve been playing outside for years.”

It’s not as easy as simply moving Douglas back outside full time. He’s not going to take snaps away from Alexander, and Stokes doesn’t appear suited to play the slot. However, the Packers could play Alexander and Douglas outside in the base defense, then bring in Stokes as the third cornerback in nickel packages and move Alexander inside in those situations. It would be a reduced role for Stokes, who has played 100% of the defensive snaps this season.

“We’d love to be able to get to that,” Barry said of Douglas playing outside. “We feel like we have multiple guys that can play the nickel, Ja being one of them, Darnell being one of them.”

Barry was referring to Savage, the safety who has long been viewed as ideal for the slot position even though the Packers have never committed to using the 2019 first-round pick there.

“I played a lot of it at Maryland,” Savage said.

It might also help Savage, another defensive back who is off to a slow start.

“You know me, I’ll do whatever’s asked of me,” Savage said. “But being close to the ball [in the slot] is always fun. You get a lot more opportunities. But whatever this defense asks of me, that’s what I’m going to do.”

In the secondary alone, the Packers have three first-round picks in Savage, Alexander and Stokes. And they’ve given big contracts to Douglas and safety Adrian Amos.

“I think we have an elite, special group that can go get after people and go challenge people and get in their face and be aggressive,” Barry reiterated. “And we need to do that.”