GREEN BAY – The best signings don’t always garner the biggest headlines.
For example, the Packers agreeing to terms with cornerback Keisean Nixon during the second wave of free agency was met with little fanfare last March.
A few weeks earlier, Las Vegas chose not to tender a restricted-free-agent contract offer to Nixon, making the fourth-year veteran unrestricted for the first time since he went undrafted out of South Carolina in 2019.
Today, Nixon is a first-team All-Pro who led the NFL with 1,009 yards on kickoff returns this past season. His 105-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Minnesota in Week 17 made Nixon the first Packers player to return a kickoff for a TD in more than a decade. It was also the third-longest kickoff return for a TD in team history.
The 5-foot-10, 200-pound cornerback is the latest in a series of under-the-radar acquisitions who made a big difference for the Packers since Brian Gutekunst was hired as general manager in 2018, joining the likes of linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, cornerback Rasul Douglas, and receiver Allen Lazard.
“Obviously the draft gets a lot of attention, free agency those few days gets a lot of attention, but for us, that’s as important as anything,” said Gutekunst of digging for veteran free agents. “Finding those role players that can come in, be versatile, play (special) teams, do different things for you at a high level, it’s exceptionally important, and the way this league is, most of the time those guys if they come in and do a good job, you’re going to have to replace those guys as well just because of the way the cap is. We have to be able to do that every year.”
Gutekunst set the tone early in 2018 when he and his scouts scoured NFL practice squads in search of untapped talent to sign and stash on the roster as Green Bay turned its eye to the future. With a roster spot available after Aaron Jones was placed on injured reserve, the Packers signed Lazard off Jacksonville’s practice squad with two weeks left in the regular season.
The 6-foot-5, 227-pound receiver has caught 169 passes for 2,236 yards and eight touchdowns in 57 regular-season games (40 starts) since then, while establishing himself as one of the league’s best blocking receivers.
The Packers made perhaps their biggest signing ever off another team’s practice squad last year when they signed Rasul Douglas away from Arizona. Douglas wound up leading the defense with five interceptions (two returned for a touchdown) in 12 games in…
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