One Packers Position Battle Just Took Another Interesting Turn

On Monday, it wasn’t just one period. The position coach, Bobby Babich, gave Nixon the first period, St-Juste the second period and they rotated the rest of the day. At this point, it looks like a full-fledged competition between Nixon, who would like a new contract commensurate with his status as “CB1,” and St-Juste.

“Everything's a competition right now, so we’re going to put different guys in different situations in different spots and see how they respond,” LaFleur said, more forthcoming on the topic when asked before Tuesday’s practice.

As noted in our latest Winners and Losers story, here’s the interesting dynamic. Nixon is part of the old regime. He followed Rich Bisaccia from the Raiders to Green Bay, but he’s no longer with the team. He became an every-down cornerback under Jeff Hafley, who’s also no longer with the team.

Gannon and Babich have no such allegiance to Nixon. He’s not one of Gannon’s guys. It doesn’t mean he can’t be – doesn’t mean he won’t be – but St-Juste and Cisse are the cornerbacks added since his arrival.

Nixon was chewed up and spit out during one-on-ones last week, including Matthew Golden torching him on all three reps on Family Night. The one-on-ones are a small part of the equation – and this is nothing but speculation – but it’s possible Gannon saw the effort and performance put out by Nixon, Cisse and St-Juste and decided to open the competition.

At this point, the cornerback competition could swing in several directions. Here are two. One, the starting secondary for the season-opening showdown against the rival Vikings and their high-flying set of receivers will be Nixon and Cisse, with St-Juste the next man up. Or, two, Cisse and St-Juste will start and Nixon will be on another roster.

The developments run beyond who will start. The backup battles have taken a twist, too.