For a player who looked like he might be battling for his spot all summer, Keisean Nixon has done exactly what the Packers needed him to do: quietly become a non-issue.
That’s the twist here. After a rough start to training camp, Nixon has settled into a starting role in Green Bay’s defense and, through five games, he’s been more than serviceable.
Outside of a dubious Week 2 outing against the New York Jets, he’s mostly held up. In Week 5, the Chicago Bears chose to target rookie Brandon Cisse instead.
That wasn’t exactly shocking. Cisse is still learning the position, and Bears head coach and offensive mastermind Ben Johnson had every reason to test the rookie. What stands out is that Nixon, after all the preseason concern, has steadied himself enough that he’s no longer the obvious weak link.
He’s still not a true CB1, and he won’t be. Cisse has the higher ceiling, even if he doesn’t yet have Nixon’s veteran savvy or physical strength.
Nixon, for all his experience, still comes with his share of headaches. He draws penalties he shouldn’t, and he still has those moments where he makes things way harder than they need to be: Turn around!
Play the ball! Make it a little less obvious!
But the difference this season is that, aside from the Jets game, those mistakes haven’t blown up on him the way they did a year ago.
The numbers back that up. According to Pro Football Reference, Nixon gave up six touchdowns and a 105.1 passer rating last season.
This year, those figures are 0 and 67.5. Receivers are averaging 9.2 yards per catch against him, down from 11.6.
There is a pretty obvious asterisk attached to all of that, though. The Packers still haven’t faced a consensus top-25 quarterback.
Caleb Williams was out with a hamstring injury, and Chicago used Tyson Bagent to start before turning to Case Keenum in relief. So the idea that Nixon has fully turned a corner should come with a heaping tablespoon of salt.
Even so, he’s been useful. Through five games, Nixon has an interception, three tackles for loss, four passes defensed, and 31 tackles, which puts him on pace for a career-high.
Green Bay has used him as a blitzer and in run support, and he’s handled those jobs effectively. He has missed a couple of tackles, but that’s part of the package too.
Pro Football Focus has Nixon 24th among 104 qualified corners with an overall grade of 68.1. That number probably needs the same caution label, especially since PFF rated him well above average last season while Packers fans saw a different story.
For now, the formula is simple: appreciate the good, because the bad is always waiting somewhere nearby. Maybe that changes when the quarterbacks get better. Maybe it starts this week against Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys.
But through five games, Nixon has been, in the best possible way, remarkably unremarkable. And for the Packers, that’s enough.
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Riley and Williams are both in their 21-day practice window after being designated to return from injured reserve, which at least gives Green Bay some possible help down the line. For now, though, the Packers are still sorting through a crowded list of injured players before a prime-time matchup that could put extra pressure on the defense to hold up with so many moving parts around it. [Read more 🡒]