GREEN BAY — Keisean Nixon isn’t exactly sure why his starting job is in jeopardy, going so far as to say on Sunday that he thinks he’s being “punished,” although he said he doesn’t know what for.
What the Green Bay Packers veteran cornerback did say after practice Sunday was that he intends to keep competing, continue taking the same approach and “attack” is as a “challenge.”
After spotting several reporters lurking near his locker after Sunday’s practice, during which he spent virtually all of the 11-on-11 snaps with the No. 1 defense — for one team period, Nixon, Benjamin St-Juste and Brandon Cisse all rotated through the lineup — Nixon told them, “I don’t know why y’all creeping. Get it out of the way.”
Told that head coach Matt LaFleur has made no secret that Nixon is in a competition for his starting position and asked how he views the situation, Nixon replied, “I guess I’m being punished right now. I don’t know. I don’t really worry about what I’m running in camp, [with the] ones or twos. I just keep my process and just compete — for real.”
Asked what LaFleur would be punishing him for, Nixon replied, “I don’t know. That’s between the coaches. I don’t know. I just come here and have the same process and get better every day, and just stack days. I can’t really worry about what they throw at me. Whatever they throw at me, though, I’m going to attack [it as] a challenge. So I’m here for it, no matter what it is.”
Nixon also said the coaches have told him “nothing” about what his role is.
“I don’t know. They ain’t really told me nothing,” he said, later adding that each day the coaches tell the cornerbacks what the rotations will be before each practice. “Every day I find out a different thing, and I just attack it. I don’t care what it is, whether it’s me taking reps on special teams, whatever it is. I attack it.
“I’m here. Can’t really run me off, so I’m ready to play ball.”
Nixon, who joined the Packers as a free agent in 2022 on a minimum-salary deal after playing 283 defensive snaps during three seasons with the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders, is in the final year of a three-year, $18 million extension he signed before the 2024 season. He’s set to earn a base salary of $4.3 million this season.
Earlier in training camp, Nixon refused to discuss any unhappiness with his contract.
In recent days, he’s gone from playing exclusively with the No. 1 defense to intermittently working with the No. 2 group.
That development is the first significant downturn of his career in Green Bay.
He emerged as a first-team All-Pro kick returner during the second half of the 2022 season. He also played more defensive snaps for the Packers that season (289) than he did in three years with the Raiders.
He repeated as a first-team All-Pro returner in 2023 and also became the team’s nickelback, playing 809 defensive snaps (73%) and starting 13 games on defense.
During the 2024 season, he became a starting outside cornerback under then-new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, and held that role again last season.
In four years with the Packers, he’s played in all 55 regular-season and postseason games (starting 47).
The 29-year-old Nixon started all 18 games (including playoffs) last season and finished with 78 tackles, an interception in the end zone to seal a win over the Bears at Lambeau Field, three tackles for a loss, a fumble recovery, a QB hit, two QB pressures and a career-high 17 pass break-ups, which led team and tied him for seventh in the NFL in that category.
Pro Football Focus gave him a 66.4 overall grade, which ranked him 41st among the 114 cornerbacks the site graded, and he was named to his first NFC Pro Bowl team. PFF had him allowing 56 completions on 87 targets for 651 yards and six touchdowns (105.1 opposing passer rating).
According to PFF and Pro Football Reference, Nixon was charged with four missed tackles last season for a 5.3% missed tackle percentage.
“I’m not new to this. I’m true to this. I’ve been doing this for a while. So know how the game goes. Just play ball,” Nixon replied when asked how he was handling the scrutiny. “Everybody knows my story. I came from the bottom, got to where I’m at.
“It doesn’t bother me running with the twos, threes. It don’t matter. It’s hard to keep me off the field. So when it’s time to play, I know what time it is.
“I’m here, still come in the morning every day. One of the first ones in the building. That’s just how I attack the day. I’m here to attack the day. I don’t really care what they throw at me. They can throw whatever they want at me. I’m going to attack it. I’m here to play ball.”
Speaking before practice, LaFleur said Nixon has been approaching the competition by “putting his head down and trying to take it one day at a time, and I think that’s the approach you have to take. And I think it is good battle right now.”
Later, when asked what the coaches are looking for in the competition, LaFleur replied, “Obviously, it starts doing your right assignment, and then it comes down to your style of play. How are you competing? Going after the ball? Not only in the in the pass game, but in the run game as well? Are you sticking your nose in there? And we need corners that are willing and capable tacklers.”
Nixon’s tackling certainly has been a lightning rod for criticism. The optics of a goal-line play in the season-ending playoff loss to the Chicago Bears that shows Nixon jumping out of the way as running back D’Andre Swift is about to cross the goal line went viral — it had 3.2 million views as of Sunday night — and Nixon and safety Kitan Oladapo combined to botch a sideline tackle during Thursday night’s preseason-opening loss at Pittsburgh.
Nixon with the business decision at the goal line pic.twitter.com/m8EjoBlp4L
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) January 11, 2026
Asked to evaluate his tackling and specifically about the goal-line play against the Bears, Nixon replied, “I was a 90% tackler last year. I missed three, four tackles in the whole season. I’ve [averaged] 80-plus tackles the last three years, so that seems relevant. Nobody cares.
“The Bears play, [Swift] was falling into the end zone. There wasn’t nothing really I can do. But however they view it, whatever their viewpoint is, that’s not my process. That don’t really matter to me. I’m here to play ball.”
Asked about his relationship with LaFleur, Nixon said it “has been solid” since they met and now is “fine” and that “there’s nothing wrong with it.” He credited four-time NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers and departed All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander for giving him confidence when he arrived in Green Bay in 2022.
“When I got here, Aaron Rodgers and Jaire put so much confidence in me, and I’ve never lost it,” Nixon said. Early in my career, it was hard to get confidence because they wouldn’t give me none. They wouldn’t let me play a lot with the Raiders. I was just sitting for three years, like everybody knows. But since I’ve been here, I’ve been on the field, so that speaks a lot.”
Asked what his motivation is now, Nixon cited his teammates — safeties Xavier McKinney, Evan Williams and Javon Bullard, as well as Cisse and St-Juste — and his desire to prove that he is a top-flight player.
“When it’s time to play ball, I’ll always show up. But [it’s] this team, you know?” Nixon said. “I love playing with X. I love playing with E, Bull. I’m starting to like playing with Cisse, Juice. My kids are always my motivation, of course. But I just know I can play this game at a high level.
“I don’t view myself in no competition. I come here to compete for myself. What they do and who they choose, that’s out of my control. I can only control what I can control.
“I came from the bottom. So I’m here. Year 8. Since I’ve been here, I ain’t been off the field. And anything they’ve asked me to do, I played at a high level. Whether it was getting accolades or anything, however it came, I showed up. So I always show up.”
Sunday marked exactly four weeks until the Packers’ Sept. 13 regular-season opener against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Although the Vikings have their fourth opening-day starter in as many years in Kyler Murray, they also have one of the best receivers in football in four-time All-Pro Justin Jefferson.
“I’m competing with myself at the end of the day. However they want to put it in the media — competition and all that — hey, that’s out of my control,” Nixon said. “We’ll just see Week 1 what will happen. I’m here to play ball.”
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