The Green Bay Packers may end up having the best cornerback trio in the NFL, but there were major question marks surrounding the depth of that position group entering training camp.
While, to a degree, those questions will remain until the Packers see a larger sample size, the play of Keisean Nixon and Shemar Jean-Charles this summer has helped provide stability to the back-end of the cornerback room.
Not including Jaire Alexander, Eric Stokes, and Rasul Douglas, Nixon was the most experienced player at the cornerback position with 273 career snaps, according to PFF, with only 80 coming during the 2021 season.
Jean-Charles was next, having played 37 defensive snaps as a rookie, with Kiondre Thomas, Rico Gafford, and Kabion Ento, all with no NFL snaps at cornerback.
In the Packers’ first two preseason games, Nixon has allowed seven completions on seven targets, but he is always around the football, allowing just 6.6 yards per catch. This mirrors what we saw from Nixon last season, as he was targeted five times and allowed four completions but at only 5.3 yards per catch.
As Andy Herman of Packer Report would mention, Nixon plays with a lot of confidence. He’s also a physical cornerback as well, which is a factor in why his yards per catch average is so low.
Jean-Charles experienced growing pains during his rookie season, especially with having to make the move from being a boundary cornerback in college to playing in the slot at the NFL level, which in part is why he saw such little playing time.
But Jean-Charles appears to be one of several second-year players for the Packers making that Year 2 leap, and that was first evident in practice a few weeks ago when he came away with an interception in the end zone while covering Randall Cobb.
This preseason, Jean-Charles has continued to play well and has rarely been targeted as he has been in lockstep with the receivers. In 60 coverage snaps – which includes reps from both the slot and the boundary – he has been thrown at just twice, and he hasn’t given up a completion.
It goes without saying, but of course, Alexander, Stokes, and Douglas will see the majority of the playing time this season at cornerback. However, with both Nixon and Jean-Charles playing out of the slot, they can provide Joe Barry with added flexibility when it comes to game planning and mixing and matching coverages if either proves to be a reliable option.
Although the depth of this position was one of the bigger unknowns on the defensive side of the ball entering training camp, the play of Nixon and Jean-Charles in recent weeks has helped quell some of those concerns for the time being.
