Packers get Special Teams Help Signing CB Keisean Nixon

The Green Bay Packers do have Eric Stokes, Rasul Douglas, and Jaire Alexander on their roster, but they’ll still need to add to the cornerback position this offseason.

For starters, they entered Friday with only six cornerbacks on the roster, so they’ll certainly add a few more as part of their initial 90-man roster. And second, the depth that they do have is quite inexperienced with Shemar Jean-Charles, Kabion Ento, and Kiondre Thomas with 38 combined defensive snaps over their respective careers.

Enter former Las Vegas Raider Keisean Nixon, who, according to Doug Kyed, is signing with the Green Bay Packers.

Nixon is a former undrafted rookie from the 2019 draft class out of South Carolina and has spent his first three NFL seasons with the Raiders. Admittedly, we don’t know how much action he could see on the defensive side of the ball for the Packers this season–although he is now the fourth most experienced cornerback on this roster.

Nixon has 274 career defensive snaps, per PFF ($$), and has allowed 19 receptions on 24 targets at 15.1 yards per catch with just one pass breakup. In 2021 specifically, Nixon allowed four catches on five targets but for only 5.3 yards per catch.

While 183 of his career snaps came on the boundary, this past season, Nixon lined up in the slot on 52 of his 81 snaps. Although it is assumed that Alexander will spend most of his time in the slot this upcoming season, having another slot option that Joe Barry could lean on would create an enormous amount of flexibility for this secondary.

With that said, where Nixon could really leave his mark on this 2022 Green Bay Packers team is on special teams. He is very experienced with 704 career special teams snaps, including 17 total tackles during his three years. Nixon also has six career kick return attempts, averaging 14.0 yards per return.

Nixon also spent time with now Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia while with the Raiders–so perhaps this is a player that Bisaccia recommended the Packers sign.

As we all know, the Green Bay Packers special teams unit was the worst in football last season by a few different metrics, and while bringing in Bisaccia was a great first step, adding experienced players to this unit is a must as well.

At this time we do not know the contract details, but I imagine this is a low-cost addition for Green Bay. The addition of Nixon also shouldn’t change how the Packers approach the draft at the cornerback position.