On Friday, This was announced by Doug Cayed of Pro Football Focus. that the Green Bay Packers would sign defenseman Keysan Nixon. This offseason, the Las Vegas Raiders had the opportunity to offer Nixon, then a restricted free agent, but decided not to do it in Marchmaking Nixon an unrestricted free agent.
Nixon is more of a special-teams player than a true cornerback: in his three years with the Raiders, he played 692 special-team snaps and just 273 defensive snaps. He registered two defensive starts for the team, but 155 snaps were played in 2020, just 15 percent of Las Vegas’ total defensive snaps.
Playing on the defensive side with the ball, Nixon was mostly a cornerback, somewhat surprising for a defenseman who is just over 5’10” (5’10”) tall. Nixon wasn’t tested as an elite athlete during the 2019 pre-draft, but he rushed 40 yards in 4.42 seconds, which seemed to do well in the third round of football.
Keysan Nixon was not selected in the 2019 draft class.
Kasin Nixon published a post about poverty #RAS c Normal size, Good speed, Poor explosive power, V. Poor agility in CB position.#raiders pic.twitter.com/ZVUe3CI0yA
— Kent Lee Platt (@MathBomb) May 5, 2019
On special teams, Nixon covered the kickoff, was a quarterback in the return kickoff, was a gunner on the punt team, and was runner-up on the return of the punt. These were usually roles played by players such as Isaac Yadom, Equanimus St. Brown and Malik Taylor. Given that Yadom (Houston) and St. Brown (Chicago) signed elsewhere this offseason, it makes sense that special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia brought in one of “his guys” via Las Vegas for the role.
This move can help the wide receiver number game in a roundabout way. By making Taylor potentially more expendable, this could open up a true place on the team. Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb and Amari Rodgers are virtual roster locks in their current form, making it hard for the Packers to play with numbers if they want to add a veteran and a double-down with multiple picks in the draft. Mind you, Lazard and Cobb have contract seasons, which should be important to the team’s multi-year plan.
Taylor played 313 special team snaps in Green Bay in his two years with the Packers, but recorded only 32 offensive snaps for the team in 2021. Green Bay’s top three receivers failed to play.
Nixon was placed on injured reserve for the Raiders during the final roster cuts due to a leg injury, but was activated in October when he immediately took over special teams snaps.