Two weeks into Green Bay Packers training camp, the one cornerback job nobody expected to be open is the one drawing the most attention. Keisean Nixon opened camp as the presumed starter on the left side after playing all 17 games last season, and rookie second-round pick Brandon Cisse has since taken so many first-team reps that the depth chart has effectively inverted. Nixon has spent practices rotating between the ones and twos, and he has noticed.
Asked by ESPN’s Rob Demovsky about coaches describing his spot as a competition, the veteran did not hide his view of it.
Green Bay Packers, Keisean Nixon
Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon (25) against the Kansas City Chiefs during their football game Sunday, December 3, 2023, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. Wm. Glasheen USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
“I guess I’m being punished right now, I guess, I don’t know,” Nixon said. “I don’t really worry about what I’m running in camp, the ones and twos, I just keep my process and compete.”
Matt LaFleur has not softened the framing. “Everything’s a competition right now,” the head coach said of the cornerback group, adding that the staff intends to move players into different spots and see how they respond.
Keisean Nixon on coaches saying he’s in competition to start despite making Pro Bowl last season, via @RobDemovsky:
“I guess I’m being punished right now, I guess, I don’t know. I don’t really worry about what I’m running in camp, the ones and twos, I just keep my process and… pic.twitter.com/O7FsKQOM7o
— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) August 16, 2026
Is Nixon being punished, or measured?
The accolade at the center of his case does not carry as much as it looks like it does. Nixon made his first Pro Bowl in January, and he made it as a replacement for Seattle’s Devon Witherspoon, who was unavailable because he was playing in the Super Bowl. The production underneath was genuinely mixed. He set a career high with 17 passes defensed, tied for sixth in the NFL and the most by a Packer since Jaire Alexander in 2019, and he is the only cornerback in the league to appear in all 17 games with an interception in each of the last four seasons.
He also allowed six touchdowns and an opposing passer rating of 105.1, according to Pro Football Reference, and gave up more yards per target than in any previous season in Green Bay. Pro Football Focus had him tied for the most penalties among cornerbacks who played at least 358 snaps. A defensive coordinator looking at that season sees a starter who has to be re-evaluated rather than a job already settled, which is what August is for.
Green Bay used its top pick in the 2026 draft on Cisse at No. 52, signed Benjamin St-Juste to a two-year, $10 million deal in free agency, and released Nate Hobbs a year into a four-year, $48 million contract. Carrington Valentine, last season’s other starter, has been slowed by a hamstring injury since the fourth practice of camp, which handed Cisse the reps he has since kept.
Nixon is scheduled to make $5 million this season, 34th among cornerbacks, and he is not under contract beyond 2026. That is the actual stake in these practices, and it explains the tone.