For a few years there, the Packers and Keisean Nixon had a good thing going. After spending the first two of years of his career with the Raiders – both in Oakland and in Las Vegas – Nixon came over to Green Bay and immediately changed the trajectory of his career.
After returning six total kicks over two years for the Raiders, Nixon took on the primary kickreturner role in Green Bay and ... immediately was one of the league's best. In his *first* season in that role, Nixon led the league in both returns and total yards, including a league-best 105 yard return. He was, unsurprisingly, named to the NFL's All-Pro team after the season.
RELATED: Packers fans will hate proposed trade that reunites Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams
Not to be outdone, he followed that season up with yet another All-Pro caliber campaign, again leading the league in both returns and total yards – while racking up yet another All-Pro nod – in 2023. It seemed that the Packers (and Nixon) were really onto something, until 2024 when that ... just stopped? Nixon was much more of a standard cornerback for Green Bay last season – it was the first time he played over 1,000 defensive snaps in his career – and, as a result, his return numbers struggled mightily.
After the season, he made his thoughts on returning to that kick returner role *very* well known, which makes it seem like this whole debate is kinda already cut-and-dry. But! A new proposed rule from the NFL Competition Committee could maybe convince everyone that 2022-2023 wasn't just some flukey run of excellence.
New NFL kickoff rule could make Keisean Nixon an All-Pro kick returner once again
"NFL Competition Comm co-chair Rich McKay said league will look at both moving the spot of the touchback to the 35 yard line and moving the kickoff line back 5 yards in an effort to boost returns," NFL columnist Judy Battista said. "Could be either/or situation."
On the surface, that's exciting news just because NFL kickoffs were kinda meh this year. The rule changes did reduce the amount of touchbacks, though this year's percentage of returns was still among the worst all-time. If the Packers can convince Nixon that being CB1 isn't all it's made out to be, and that returning is Actually Very Cool, than this would theoretically be a big deal. But for now, like everything else in the NFL offseason, this feels a bit more like wishful thinking.