The Packers’ biggest lineup mystery heading into Week 1 is still sitting on the back end of the defense: who lines up at cornerback, and more specifically, who gets the job opposite Keisean Nixon.
Nixon, despite all the noise around his role this summer, still looks like the safest bet on the roster. The idea that he was truly fighting for his starting spot has been overstated.
He did spend a short stretch rotating at left cornerback, but that came after Benjamin St-Juste returned from an injury that had kept him out during training camp. Before that, and after that brief overlap, Nixon was basically locked in as Green Bay’s left corner starter with the first-team defense.
The preseason chatter around Nixon came from a couple of places. Coaches talked about every job being a competition, which led to the suggestion that his spot was up for grabs.
Then there was Week 1 of the preseason against the Pittsburgh Steelers, when Nixon was frustrated by how long he stayed on the field after the Packers’ first-team defense opened with a three-and-out. He and rookie second-round pick Brandon Cisse were the only holdovers who also played with the second-team unit after that drive.
But that game came with plenty of context, too: Carrington Valentine, St-Juste, Kamal Hadden and Domani Jackson were all unavailable because of injuries, leaving Green Bay short on cornerbacks.
Once other corners got healthy, Nixon went right back to playing with the first-team defense for the rest of the preseason. So for all the talk, this still feels like a “people needed to write things in August” situation. Nixon should open the 2026 regular season as the left cornerback.
The real uncertainty is on the other side.
Right now, the Packers appear to have Brandon Cisse and Carrington Valentine battling for the right cornerback spot, with no clear answer yet. Both have spent the summer rotating there, while St-Juste has mostly functioned as a reserve and has split some work with Nixon on the left side. Injuries have complicated the picture for both Cisse and Valentine at different points in camp, which has made the competition tough to read.
Cisse’s preseason injury on a punt gunner rep in Week 2 drew plenty of frustration from fans, and if he hasn’t fully won the job by the time Week 1 arrives, special teams could still be part of his role. That fits the way Green Bay has operated under Matt LaFleur, with offensive players rarely carrying much of the special teams load and backup defenders doing a lot of the work in the kicking game.
If the Packers don’t announce a starter before the game against the Vikings, the answer should come quickly once the action starts. The secondary will tell the story early, and by around the start of the second quarter, it should be clear whether the Packers are rotating at right cornerback or have settled on one player as the full-time starter opposite Nixon.
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