Green Bay Packers By Position: Nixon Could Help Special Teams Shine

This is the eighth story in a series examining Green Bay’s positional groups.

Part 1 — Quarterbacks

Part 2 — Wide receivers/tight ends

Part 3 — Running backs

Part 4 — Offensive line

Part 5 — Defensive line

Part 6 — Linebackers

Part 7 — Defensive backs

No one at 1265 Lombardi Ave. saw this coming.

Not Matt LaFleur, whose knowledge of special teams is pedestrian.

Not Rich Bisaccia, who has a Ph. D. in special teams.

And not even Keisean Nixon, a player packed with as much confidence as speed and elusiveness.

Nixon entered the 2022 campaign with six career kickoff returns and zero punt attempts. He finished the season as arguably the most dangerous return man in football.

Nixon’s emergence was the biggest reason Green Bay jumped from No. 32 to 22 in Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings.

“He’s got a very aggressive mindset which, for the most part, is really, really good,” LaFleur said of Nixon. “And there are some times where you kind of hold your breath. But he’s got a great mentality and I love how he competes and he’s a guy who really goes for it and he’s got no fear of failure, which I totally respect and I think it’s done well for us.”

“Well” is the understatement of the LaFleur-era.

The Packers had been operating with Yugos and Pintos in the return game for years. Then midway through last season, LaFleur and Bisaccia realized they had an Aston-Martin sitting in the garage.

Nixon wasn’t given the kickoff return job until Week 8. And he wasn’t made the primary punt returner until Week 11 after Amari Rodgers fumbled his way out of town.

Nixon proceeded to have a Desmond Howard-like impact on special teams over the final two months of the season. Among Nixon’s remarkable achievements were:

• He led the NFL with 1,009 yards on kickoff returns. The only other Packers in team history to achieve that were Al Carmichael (1956 and 1957) and Dave Hampton (1971).

• Nixon ranked No. 2 in the NFL with an average of 28.83 yards per kickoff return, the best single-season mark in franchise history among players with 30-plus kickoff returns.

• He ranked No. 1 in the NFL in kickoff returns of 50-plus yards with five. No other player in the NFL had more than two.

• Nixon also led the league in kick returns of at least 30 yards with 11. That was the most by a Packer since Allen Rossum in 2000.

• Nixon has a league-high six games with 100-plus yards on kickoff returns, tying Hampton (1971) for the most in a season by a Packer since 1950.

• He became the fourth player since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to post 1,000-plus yards on 35 or fewer kickoff returns. The others were Cordarrelle Patterson (2015, 2020), Joe McKnight (2011) and Alvin Haymond (1970).

• Nixon returned a kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown against Minnesota in Week 17, marking the first time since 2011 (Randall Cobb) the Packers had a kickoff return for a TD.

• He returned 11 punts for 140 yards (12.7).

• And Nixon became the first Packer kick returner to be named first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press since it added that position in 1976.

“Man, he does a great job,” Packers nose tackle Kenny Clark said of Nixon. “Every time he’s got the ball in his hands, I’m standing up trying to see what he’s going to do with the ball. Kei has been huge for our team.”

It took a while

In hindsight, it seems almost criminal Nixon sat behind Rodgers for half of the 2022 campaign. Then again, there was nothing from Nixon’s past to suggest he could be this type of return man.

Nixon had a pair of kickoff return touchdowns while playing junior college football at Arizona Western Community College. But despite his 4.42 speed in the 40-yard dash, Nixon didn’t do any returning his final two collegiate seasons at South Carolina.

Nixon returned six kicks during his first two years with the Raiders, but averaged just 14.0 yards per return.

When Green Bay hired Bissacia as its special teams coordinator in Feb. 2022, he lobbied to add Nixon to the roster — but that was largely to help improve Green Bay’s coverage units. Nixon did that, then took over both return jobs after Rodgers fumbled five times as a returner and was released on Nov. 15.

Nixon signed a one-year, $4 million contract this offseason that could pay him up to $6 million based on playing time incentives. Now, Nixon is excited to try living up to that contract by strutting his stuff for an entire season.

“I’m comfortable now, you know what I’m saying?” Nixon said. “When I first got here, it was like I’m kinda like trying to understand what’s going on, how the building works and stuff like that. Now it’s like, I’ve been here. It’s not a new transition for me. It’s comfortable, playing good.”

Green Bay has built a solid nucleus of special teams players around Nixon that includes Dallin Leavitt, Rudy Ford, Isaiah McDuffie, Tariq Carpenter, Eric Wilson and Patrick Taylor. While Nixon has a rare combination of speed and vision, the blocking was sublime last year on several of his returns.

If the entire unit can perform to that standard again, Nixon could put up some eye-popping numbers over a full season.

“I’ve got my own standards as a person for myself and my own expectations,” Nixon said. “I always want to prove it to myself that I am who I say I am and that’s the biggest thing is coming to work every day and showing who I am. The coaches know who I am and trust in my commitment to this team and to my career.”

Can Carlson cut it?

Green Bay’s biggest question on special teams comes at kicker, where rookie sixth round draft pick Anders Carlson is trying to replace veteran Mason Crosby.

Crosby, a sixth round pick himself in 2007, obliterated the franchise’s all-time scoring record with 1,918 points. He made 81.4% of his field goals while in Green Bay, including an 86.2% clip last season (25-of-29).

“I learned a lot from Mason,” Bisaccia said. “I learned a lot about tempo. I learned a lot about rhythm. I think he … had a heck of a year last year.”

The Packers opted to move on from the 38-year-old Crosby this offseason, though, and made Carlson the third kicker selected in April’s draft. San Francisco’s Jake Moody (Round 3) and New England’s Chad Ryland (Round 4) both had stronger college careers than Carlson, but Green Bay believes its new kicker is ready.

“He’s a talented guy and we’re excited,” LaFleur said of Carlson. “He’s got a big leg and certainly he’s by far from a finished product. But we’re just excited about the talent there.”

There’s undoubtedly a lot of talent, as Carlson had one of the strongest legs in the draft. But his production at Auburn was certainly spotty.

Carlson, who’s already 25, spent six seasons at Auburn where he made 71.8% of his field goals (79 of 110). Carlson suffered a torn ACL late in the 2021 campaign, returned in 2022, then had his final season cut short by a shoulder injury.

Carlson was terrific from 40 yards and in, making 49 of 54 field goals (90.7%) during his time with the Tigers. Outside of 40, though, he was dreadful, making just 30-of-56 overall (53.6%).

Carlson was 25-of-39 between 40 and 49 yards (64.1%) and 5-of-17 beyond 50 yards (29.4%).

“Well, he’s had the ups and downs a little bit through college, but he’s been there six years, he stayed when he could’ve tried to come out,” Bisaccia said. “He’s had an ACL injury, he’s had a shoulder injury. I know a lot of people just look at stats, 71 percent coming out, but I look at really the makeup of the person.

“I think he’s a strong mental makeup person, I think he’s been his best regardless of the circumstance. He’s been in a lot of big games, he’s kicked in a lot of different situations in the SEC. He’s kicked in many bowl games. I love his body structure, the power that he has, the ability to get stronger and the ability to self-correct I think is a little bit of a family trait right now that we’re seeing from him. So we’re excited about where he’s going to go forward.”

Carlson’s older brother, Daniel, was a fifth round draft pick by Minnesota in 2018, but was released that same season. Daniel Carlson rebounded, though, and has made 107 of 115 field goals the last three years with Las Vegas (93.0%).

Bisaccia spent four years with Daniel Carlson in Oakland/Las Vegas and believes the younger Carlson has a chance to be a good one himself.

“Daniel and I at times would take some of Auburn’s tape and watch Anders when he was playing,” Bisaccia said. “We talked to him about some of the drills that we did, some of those things, so we’re familiar with Anders as well as the whole family, and we’re excited about working with him right now.”

Work to be done

Green Bay gave Matt Orzech a $300,000 signing bonus this offseason to replace Jack Coco as the long snapper. Orzech, who went undrafted, was Jacksonville’s long snapper in 2019 and snapped for the Los Angeles Rams the last two years.

“We’re excited about going and getting Matt,” Bisaccia said. “He’s played a lot of football. He’s a 6-4 body who can really move his feet. He’s athletic.”

Veteran punter Pat O’Donnell returns despite the fact Green Bay ranked 31st in yards per punt and 30th in net yards per punt.

With Bisaccia in charge, Green Bay’s ranking of No. 22 in overall special teams was its highest since 2017 (16^th). But there are a lot of strides yet to be made.

The Packers allowed four blocked kicks in 2022, the most in the NFL. Rodgers’ five fumbles were an atrocious number. And Green Bay ranked 26^th in opponent starting field position after a kickoff return.

Still, Green Bay ranked 26^th, 29^th and 32^nd on special teams in LaFleur’s first three seasons. So, the Packers are moving in the right direction — one Nixon and Bisaccia hope to keep taking them in 2023.

“I think absolutely it’s going the right way,” LaFleur said after the 2022 campaign. “I think you look at our kickoff coverage units, our punt coverage unit, the way these guys run, certainly we saw the effects on kickoff return. But the way these guys compete for that one play, I love the effort, I love the energy.

“(Bisaccia) is extremely sound and detailed in what we are trying to get done. I thought you saw improvement. You saw a lot of young players improve throughout the course of the season. I think as a team we’re definitely in terms of that phase of the game. We are definitely trending in the right direction.”