Isn’t That Special? The Green Bay Packers Bring Back Return Ace Keisean Nixon

In 1996, Desmond Howard became one of the best return men in Green Bay history and helped the Packers win Super Bowl XXXI. Then when fere agency hit, Howard bolted for the Oakland Raiders.

The Packers made sure the same thing didn’t happen with return ace Keisean Nixon this offseason.

According to multiple reports, Nixon and the Packers agreed to a one-year contract worth up to $6 million.

Among players with at least 20 kickoff returns last season, Nixon ranked first in the league with an average of 28.8 yards per return. He also led the league in kickoff returns of 50-plus yards (five) and 30-plus yards (11), and had a league-leading 1,009 yards on kickoff returns.

Nixon was then named the Associated Press’ All-Pro kick returner, the first Packer player to ever earn that honor.

“Any time that you have a returner that’s capable of taking it to the house, that energizes the guys blocking for him,” Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur said late in the 2022 season. “Those guys are doing an outstanding job and I really think now, it’s been a long time coming, but we have a legitimate threat anytime somebody has to kick off to us.”

The addition of Nixon helped Green Bay jump from 32^nd to 22^nd in Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings. Amazingly, Nixon didn’t get a chance to start returning kicks until Week 6 when the Packers finally gave up on former third round draft choice Amari Rodgers.

Nixon then made the most of his opportunities, highlighted by a 105-yard touchdown return against Minnesota and a 93-yarder against Miami.

“For a long time here, and I don’t mean this as disrespect, but it’s just the facts, for a long time when that ball’s up in the air on a kickoff, I’m thinking, ‘Stay in. Stay in. Don’t bring it out,’ ” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said late in the 2022 season. “Because not a lot of good stuff happened. But I always tell (Nixon) when he’s about to go out there, ‘Bring it out. Bring that out.’

“Just because he brings an extra type of juice to our football team and you can (win) with guys like that, guys that care about it, guys that are tough and guys that make big-time plays. He’s the type of player I wish I’d had over the course of my career because you feel real good going to battle with a guy like that.”

Nixon’s emergence was arguably the biggest surprise in Green Bay’s disappointing 2022 campaign.

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 Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders, but averaged just 14.0 yards per return. When Green Bay hired special teams coordinator Rich Bissacia in the 2022 offseason, he lobbied to add Nixon to the roster — but that was largely to help improve Green Bay’s coverage units.

Instead, Nixon was a hidden treasure who completely changed Green Bay’s approach to special teams.

“Yeah, really proud of the way he … really responded to the opportunities given to him,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said of Nixon. “Obviously none of us knew what kind of returner was gonna come out of that and that was a pleasant surprise and again, when the opportunity came, was just really proud of how he attacked it.”

Now, he’ll keep attacking it in a Green Bay uniform for at least one more season.