The Packers came into the offseason with one obvious problem area, and it sat in the secondary. Xavier McKinney gives them an outstanding safety tandem, but the cornerback group was a mess last season, and Green Bay acted accordingly by moving on from Nate Hobbs and adding Benjamin St-Juste while also drafting Brandon Cisse.
That reshuffling, though, does not suddenly put Keisean Nixon in the clear.
Nixon has been trying to stay quiet about his contract situation, declining to get into details when asked. He has said his early training camp absences were not tied to a deal, instead pointing to hamstring tightness. Even if that explanation is accurate, it does little to change the larger picture: he has not done enough to justify pushing for another major extension with Matt LaFleur’s team.
The numbers from last season are tough to ignore. Nixon allowed catches on 64.4 percent of the targets he faced, gave up 656 receiving yards, surrendered 11.6 yards per catch, posted an opposing passer rating of 105.1 against him, and allowed six touchdowns. That is not the profile of a player ready to walk into Week 1 and demand a new payday.
He remains a top-level special teams player, but as a cornerback he has been inconsistent. And since he has not always embraced special teams duties, that weakens the argument for handing him a big contract based on versatility alone.
Nixon is in the final year of the three-year, $48 million deal he signed, and the contract has not aged well. St-Juste may end up winning the starting job over Valentine, but Nixon’s spot on the other side is hardly secure either. In truth, both jobs could be up for grabs.
If the injury is real, the Packers should hope he gets back to full strength quickly and that it does not linger. But once he is healthy, the standard should be straightforward: if he wants to get paid, he has to earn it every day.
Green Bay is chasing Super Bowl aspirations this season, and the front office has already made some divisive decisions with recent extensions. But when it comes to who should be next in line, Nixon is nowhere near the top of the list.
In Other News...
Matthew Golden May Have Found The Fastest Way Into LaFleurs Trust
Matthew Golden is trying to turn a promising offseason into a real jump in Year 2, and for the Packers, the early signs go beyond the box score. After a rookie season that ended without a regular-season touchdown, the second-year receiver has drawn notice from Matt LaFleur for the less glamorous parts of the job, especially his blocking and his work away from the ball.
That kind of attention tends to matter in Green Bay, where trust in the offense is built on more than catches and yardage. Golden did finish last season with 361 receiving yards across 14 games and found the end zone in a playoff loss, but the bigger question now is whether those incremental gains are enough to earn a larger role when the games start counting for real. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Are Taking A Different Defensive Bet Than The Rest Of The NFL
Around the league, last seasons defensive trend leaned toward smaller looks, with teams like the L.A. Rams and Seattle Seahawks finding ways to make lighter packages work. Green Bay has gone the other direction in its own search for answers, choosing not to simply add more defensive backs when the passing game demands it.
Instead, the Packers are exploring a different kind of flexibility by moving bigger edge players inside and keeping key linebackers on the field. The idea is to widen the pass-rush options without sacrificing size and physicality, a bet that reflects a different view of how to disrupt offenses in todays NFL. [Read more 🡒]
Keisean Nixon Repeats Himself Three Times On Contract Talks
Keisean Nixon spent his first training camp media session doing what players often do when the business side starts to creep into football season: he punted. The Packers cornerback repeatedly steered questions about his contract to his agent and general manager, making it clear he wanted the focus to stay on the field as Green Bay gets rolling under a new defensive coordinator. Entering the final year of his three-year deal, Nixon is more interested in showing he can keep building than in turning camp into a negotiation.
Nixon also cleared up one point that might have fueled the speculation. His absence from the first practice had nothing to do with contract tension, he said, but rather hamstring tightness, and he was back on the field the next day. For the Packers, that keeps the situation in the usual summer holding pattern for now, with Nixon working through camp and the front office left to sort out the rest whenever the time comes. [Read more 🡒]