Last week, we went through an exercise where we tried to pin down which 48 players among the Green Bay Packers’ 53-man roster would actually make the cut for being game-day actives against the Minnesota Vikings in the team’s Week 1 regular-season opener. Today, I want to focus less on the back end of the depth chart and turn our attention to the starting lineup, namely the much-talked-about outside cornerback position.
Because of injuries or uncertainty, I think the biggest questions on the Packers’ depth chart right now, at least on the starting lineup, are:
The offensive line (as Aaron Banks and Zach Bako-Bewele have been limited due to injury for basically all of camp)
The defensive line (as we haven’t seen Javon Hargrave take a single snap in a preseason game, and don’t know how the rotation exactly works)
The cornerback position (where players have been rotated in and out of the lineup)
We’re going to hit on that last one today. Let’s start by talking about everyone’s favorite subject: Keisean Nixon.
Keisean Nixon
Much has been made about Keisean Nixon “competing” for his starting job going into the 2026 season, but it hasn’t really been rooted in reality. Yes, Nixon was rotating at the left cornerback position (the Packers play left and right corners; they don’t travel with top targets) for a very brief period of time, but it’s worth remembering the context of that short span.
Nixon only really rotated significantly in practice, more than a typical entrenched starter, once Benjamin St-Juste (who is fourth in the cornerback pecking order right now) returned from an injury that led to him being sidelined during training camp. Before and after St-Juste’s “onboarding,” Nixon pretty much was a set-it-and-forget-it starter, consistently on the field at left cornerback for Green Bay’s first-team defense this summer.
The headline you probably saw was about the coaching staff stating that Nixon was in a cornerback competition, backed by comments from coaches saying that every job is a competition all the time. If you didn’t catch that one, you probably saw that Nixon was frustrated that he stayed in the Week 1 preseason game for so long, as both he and rookie second-round pick Brandon Cisse were the only holdovers who also played with the second-team unit after the Packers’ first-team defense forced a three-and-out on the opening drive of the game. That, again, needs context, as Carrington Valentine, St-Juste, Kamal Hadden and Domani Jackson, all players who either made the 53-man roster or the practice squad (in Jackson’s case), were injured and unavailable to play against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Could the Packers have pulled Nixon earlier? Sure. Was Green Bay short on bodies at cornerback in that game? Absolutely. Worth mentioning: This only happened in Week 1 of the preseason, and when other cornerbacks started to get healthy, Nixon only played with the first-team defense for the remainder of the preseason.
Generally, I file this under “People needed to write things in August.” You should fully expect Nixon to hold down the left cornerback position to start the 2026 regular season. The big question is what happens at right cornerback, opposite Nixon.
Right cornerback
What some fans might be surprised to hear is that it’s actually Cisse and Valentine battling for the right cornerback spot right now, and that we don’t have clarity on the situation- not that Nixon’s job is really up for grabs. Both Cisse and Valentine have been rotating at right cornerback throughout the summer, while St-Juste has mostly been a reserve who has split some reps with Nixon at left cornerback.
Valentine and Cisse have both been injured at times during training camp, which has made the battle hard to call — one way or another. Fans were irate that Cisse was injured on a punt gunner rep in Week 2 of the preseason, but if he hasn’t outright won the job going into Week 1, I think we’ll see him a bit on special teams. Remember, the Packers have been near the bottom of the league in offensive players playing on special teams during head coach Matt LaFleur’s entire tenure in Green Bay, so a lot of the kicking game burden is placed on rotation and backup defenders.
If you want a look at Cisse’s contributions this summer, I clipped up all of the rookie’s defensive snaps this preseason, which you can find linked below.
Gun to my head, I’m not sure what happens at the right cornerback position against the Vikings. I could see it going to Valentine, Cisse or it being a rotation. I think all possibilities are on the table, and it’s not like the coaching staff has told us one way or another how they’re leaning opposite Nixon.
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Pay attention early on to the secondary in the Vikings game this week, if the Packers’ coaches don’t outright name a starter at cornerback. We’ll know pretty early on (probably the start of the second quarter) if there’s a rotation going on, or if someone has been anointed as a true full-time starter at right cornerback.