National Sports

Packers’ top CB may lose starting job with renewed depth

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Boosting their cornerback depth was paramount for the Green Bay Packers as they sought roster upgrades after capping a five-game skid to end their 2025 season with a wild-card playoff collapse.

The impact of their moves is evident from the fact that Keisean Nixon, the Packers’ top cornerback a year ago, finds himself in a competition to keep his starting spot. Nixon occasionally has worked with the second-team defense in training camp following the Packers’ offseason additions of rookie second-round draft pick Brandon Cisse and veteran free agent Benjamin St-Juste.

“I guess I’m being punished right now, I guess, I don’t know,” Nixon said. “I don’t really worry about what I’m running in camp, ones or twos, I just keep my process and just compete -- for real.”

Nixon, a two-time All-Pro kick returner, earned his first Pro Bowl selection on defense last year as an injury replacement. He is the only cornerback in the NFL to have at least 70 tackles, six passes defensed and an interception in each of the last three seasons.

But that doesn’t mean he has anything locked up this year.

“We have a corner competition,” new Packers secondary coach Bobby Babich said Friday, a day after Green Bay’s preseason opener. “That’s what we have.”

The Packers also return Carrington Valentine, who has started 30 games over the last three seasons but missed part of training camp with a leg injury.

Green Bay’s lack of cornerback depth last year was apparent when the Packers gave up 25 fourth-quarter points and blew a 21-3 halftime lead in a 31-27 playoff loss at Chicago. Three weeks earlier, the Packers fell 22-16 in overtime at Chicago after allowing the Bears to score on each of their last four possessions.

Cisse, St-Juste promising

Cisse made a noteworthy first impression as a hard worker and tackler as he begins his pro career after playing at N.C. State (2023-24) and South Carolina (2025).

“The guy’s a film junkie, wants to be really good, puts in the work that it takes to be really good,” Babich said. “It’s similar to some of the rookies that I’ve been around in my past that have success early on, specifically at that position and it’s really about the way he goes about his work.”

St-Juste also has stood out.

Although he played only 35% of the Los Angeles Chargers’ defensive snaps last season, St-Juste performed well enough in those opportunities that his Pro Football Focus rating ranked 12th among all NFL cornerbacks.

“I like the fact that with the limited amount of snaps that I had, I was capitalizing on it,” St-Juste said. “Every time, every chance I had to be on the field, I was either in good coverage making a play.”