While the Green Bay Packers have fallen well short of expectations in 2022, two previously overlooked players have brought excitement to a season where there hasn’t been much to cheer about.
Of course, we’re talking about cornerback Keisean Nixon and safety Rudy Ford.
Both players are in their first seasons with the Packers. Initially, Nixon and Ford were brought in as reinforcements for a special teams unit that was dead last in Rich Gosselin’s annual rankings. However, thanks to the hiring of Rich Bissacia and an emphasis on finding more specialized players in free agency, this season Green Bay’s special teams is currently ranked 16th, according to Pro Football Focus. They haven’t finished better than 16th since 2015.
Lately, it’s been Nixon providing the biggest boost to the Packers’ “we-fense.”
For most of the season, Amari Rodgers had served as the team’s return specialist, but a fourth fumble against Dallas Cowboys finally turned the job over to Nixon and eventually led to Rodgers’ release. Since then, Nixon has put together one of the best seasons by a Green Bay kick returner in more than 20 years. His seven kickoff returns of 30-plus yards rank first in the league and have Aaron Rodgers longing for more.
“He’s been so important for us changing the kicking game,” Rodgers said after their most recent win over the Chicago Bears. “For a long time here, and I don’t mean this as disrespect, but it’s just the facts, for a long time when that ball is up in the air on kickoff, I’m thinking, ‘stay in, stay in, don’t bring it out,’ because just not a lot of good stuff happens. But I always tell Kei now when he’s about to go out there, I say, ‘bring it out,’ because he brings an extra type of juice to our football team, and you can win with guys like that, guys that care about it, guys that are tough and guys that make big-time plays.”
In that same game, with under a minute left, Nixon picked off Justin Fields for his first-career interception to seal the win.
“Kei closed that thing out,” Rodgers added. “He’s the type of player I wish I’d had over the course of my career because you feel real good going to battle with a guy like that.”
Meanwhile, Ford has also proven to be just as impactful. Before signing with the Packers on August 31, Ford spent most of his career as a special teamer. Now, he’s started the last four games at safety and has emerged as one of their better playmakers on defense.
It all started in Week 10 against Dallas after Darnell Savage was moved to the slot. Ford took his place at safety and made two game-changing interceptions to help secure an overtime win. He also provided some hard-nosed tackling, which caught the attention of Matt LaFleur.
“I thought he did an outstanding job,” LaFleur said via The Athletic. “You could really feel his speed and physicality out on the field. There were a couple of open-field tackles that he made that I thought were pretty impressive, so I thought it was, all in all, a really good day for him.”
Two weeks later, Ford forced a fumble against the Philadelphia Eagles and then recovered a fumble the following week against the Bears.
For whatever reason, the ball has a way of finding Ford, but what is impressing teammates like Jaire Alexander the most is how he’s picked up on what they are trying to do defensively.
“Rudy stepped up for us,” Alexander said Saturday. “I think he is doing better at communicating. He wasn’t out there with us for training camp, so he wasn’t even able to talk and be out there, but he’s come a long, and I’m excited for whatever plays come for him.”
Eventually, Green Bay will have to make decisions on both Nixon and Ford. The team doesn’t want to lose possibly their best kick returner in over two decades or a safety who is a super reliable tackler and a playmaker in coverage.
Currently, both are signed to cheap, one-year deals, but could seek out a contract with more years and compensation in the offseason. Eventually, the Packers need to consider whether what Nixon and Ford bring to the table is worth another investment. Right now, the answer is overwhelmingly yes.
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