Tag: Keisean Nixon

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.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbxb1xg7g19wqdc player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]

The Green Bay Packers offense has been in search of consistency through three games, but unlike in past seasons, the play of the punt coverage unit hasn’t been magnifying those mistakes or missed opportunities by the offense. Instead, they’ve been putting the defense in positions to be successful.

The success behind the Packers punt coverage unit, of course, begins with punter Pat O’Donnell. In three games, O’Donnell is ranked ninth in punting average and second with nine punts inside the 20-yard line, and he has just one touchback per PFF.

But also playing key roles in this unit’s success are gunners (or fliers as Rich Bisaccia calls them) Rudy Ford and Keisean Nixon, which was on full display in Tampa Bay this past Sunday.

“You guys can feel those guys getting down there, both Keisean (Nixon) and Rudy (Ford),” LaFleur said of the punt team’s fliers via SI. “They can cover up a lot of … mistakes in your coverage lanes, fanning the field. They forced a lot of fair catches. Obviously, Pat had an amazing day punting the football. Just their ability to get down and win their one-on-ones or win a double-team on the outside made a huge difference in our punt unit.”

As LaFleur mentions, Ford and Nixon’s ability to get downfield with their speed and beat the jammers has helped erase some issues with lane integrity in coverage. It has also resulted in a number of fair catches, which obviously doesn’t even allow the return man the opportunity to pick up yardage.

Ford forced three fair catches in Tampa Bay, and Nixon downed a punt at the 2-yard line.

Currently, the Packers punt coverage unit has forced six fair catches, which is tied for the second most in the NFL. Out of seven punts by O’Donnell on Sunday, Bucs return man Jaelon Darden had only three return attempts. Overall, the 8.3 yards per return that this coverage unit has allowed ranks 14th.

The value of this was evident against the Bucs. In a close game where both offenses struggled to move the ball, one miscue from the punt coverage unit could have flipped the field position battle and been the difference between winning and losing. It’s certainly fair to question whether or not the Packers win a game like this last season, given their special teams issues.

Changes to the special teams unit as a whole began with the hiring of Rich Bisaccia, but we’ve also seen how the organization views special teams shift as well. Prior to the regular season beginning, GM Brian Gutekunst mentioned that the Packers went “out of character” this offseason in an effort to improve the special teams unit.

What he meant by this was in the past, the Packers had prioritized offensive and defensive contributions when making additions. But this offseason, the Packers made several special teams specific additions, or in other words, signing players whose primary responsibilities come on special teams.

Both Ford and Nixon are examples of this, as is Dallin Leavitt, who is tied for second on the team in special teams snaps while playing on four different units, and he’s also tied for the team lead in tackles.

From Week 1 to Week 2 to Week 3, we’ve seen improvements from the Packers’ special teams unit overall, and collectively as a group, they rank 14th by DVOA – a far cry from where they’ve been ranked in previous years.

If the Packers are going to rely more heavily on their defense to lead them to victory this season, that group also has to be put in positions to be successful. And for the most part, the punt coverage unit has done just that.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbxb1xg7g19wqdc player_id=none image=https://packerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[lawrence-related id=85031,85026,85012]