Keisean Nixon is playing in the slot because Keisean Nixon was always going to play in the slot
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur wouldn’t give the media a single hint at how the team would deploy their defensive backs against the Seattle Seahawks this week, following the loss of slot defender Javon Bullard to an ankle injury. It turns out, their plan versus the Seahawks was the same one they executed when Bullard went down against the Detroit Lions.
Keisean Nixon, who had been starting as an outside cornerback, played the slot position in five-defensive back looks after Bullard’s injury. Because Nixon left his outside cornerback position vacant, Carrington Valentine and Eric Stokes, who previously rotated on a drive-by-drive basis opposite of Nixon, were then moved to full-time roles at outside cornerbacks.
That, unsurprisingly, was exactly what the Packers did against the Seahawks in the first half. Despite the predictability, LaFleur treated this subject like a state secret this week.
The big question now is what Green Bay will do once starting cornerback Jaire Alexander returns from his knee injury. Alexander participated in practice on Wednesday and Thursday this week, but the Packers held him out of practice on Friday because LaFleur didn’t feel like Alexander was ready to go and he didn’t want the cornerback to reinjure himself.
When Alexander comes back, which will presumably be before Bullard returns to the field, will it be Valentine and Stokes still rotating in the outside cornerback spot opposite of him or will the team finally name a full-time starter? Earlier this week, LaFleur said that Stokes would continue to play, despite his struggles, but that could have simply been a hint that Alexander wasn’t as healthy as we were led to believe at the time.