GREEN BAY, Wis. — The health of Keisean Nixon will be worth monitoring throughout the week.
Nixon, the Green Bay Packers’ top cornerback, is dealing with a groin injury that kept him out of practice on Wednesday. He played 88.4 percent of the defensive snaps in Sunday’s win over the Chicago Bears, marking just the second time in five games to begin the season that he wasn’t on the field for every single snap. The team never reported an injury, so he likely alerted the medical staff on Monday once he returned to the facility.
The Packers must have Nixon on the field any given week, but that’s especially true with the Dallas Cowboys in town on Sunday. They sport one of the league’s best—arguably the best—receiving tandems in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens. They’re Nos. 3 and 13 in receiving yards through five games, respectively, as the Cowboys’ offense has started the season somewhat sluggishly on that side of the ball despite the abundance of firepower.
Lamb, however, is tied for second in the league with 39 receptions, and third with 537 receiving yards.
“I think it all starts with the quarterback,” said head coach Matt LaFleur of Dak Prescott. “He’s a baller, but then you have two wideouts—multiple wideouts, really—that can make big-time plays. Obviously, they have two stars.”
Their tight end, Jake Ferguson, has just 15 receptions this season, but he’s still a potential mismatch problem that the Packers will have to account for. Javonte Williams is a dynamic threat out of the backfield with seven touchdowns from scrimmage through the Cowboys’ five games.
“[Brian Schottenheimer] does a really good job as an offensive coordinator,” LaFleur said. “It’s a great challenge. They’ve proven it time and time again that they’re extremely high-powered.
“They can score a lot of points, and they can put a lot of yards on you. Our guys have to do a great job defensively.”
Nixon has quietly had a bounce-back campaign after a dismal end to the 2025 season. He drew eight targets into his coverage against Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum this past week, surrendering just four receptions for 26 yards. The week before, Nixon and the Packers’ secondary had the luxury of trying to contain an undrafted quarterback making his first career start in Jalon Daniels. Nixon was targeted seven times, allowing five receptions for a measly 20 yards. For the season, Nixon has allowed an opposing passer rating of 65.3 when targeted—that’s the lowest mark of his career for a single season and a far cry from last year’s 105.1.
He’s one of two cornerbacks on the Packers’ injury report to begin the week. Benjamin St-Juste, who dropped out of the game against the Bears, is once again being hindered by a hamstring injury. He was nagged by a hamstring issue during training camp, and then missed the team’s Sept. 20 win over the New York Jets with one, too.
At this point, it may behoove both St-Juste and the Packers to shut him down on injured reserve for four weeks and allow him to heal properly.
The Packers had three other non-participants to start the week of preparation for the Cowboys. One of them is Javon Hargrave, who will be placed on injured reserve in the near future after suffering a season-ending Achilles tear this past weekend. Another is Skyy Moore, who was seen in the locker room on Wednesday sporting a walking boot. He exited the game on Sunday with what the Packers diagnosed as an ankle injury.
With Hargrave out of commission, the Packers only had four healthy bodies at defensive tackle, but that number is quickly dwindling. Jonathan Ford didn’t practice on Wednesday due to a calf injury, and Anthony Campbell was a limited participant with the ankle injury that has kept him sidelined for the Packers’ last three games.
Devonte Wyatt, Chris McClellan, and Karl Brooks are the only healthy bodies in the room at the moment, with David Blay Jr. on the practice squad. Wyatt, though, should have an asterisk next to his name. He was a limited participant on Wednesday with an ankle injury, but that’s been the case for the entire season thus far. The Packers are managing his practice workload following last year’s season-ending lower-leg injury.
Wednesday did feature the reappearance of Jordon Riley, who was designated to return from the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. It was Riley’s first time back on the practice field in any capacity since sustaining an Achilles tear in the Packers’ Dec. 27 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Riley, who appeared in just four games last December and registered a pair of tackles before going down, is 13 days away from the 10-month mark since his injury.
Here’s the full injury report for Wednesday.
Limited
OG Aaron Banks (Knee/Toe)
DT Anthony Campbell (Ankle)
OG Jacob Monk (Quadricep)
DT Jordon Riley (Achilles)
S Evan Williams (Illness)
WR Savion Williams (Ankle)
DT Devonte Wyatt (Ankle)
Did Not Participate
DT Jonathan Ford (Calf)
DT Javon Hargrave (Achilles)
WR Skyy Moore (Ankle)
CB Keisean Nixon (Groin)
CB Benjamin St-Juste (Hamstring)
Full Participation
EDGE Lukas Van Ness (Shoulder)
Zachary Jacobson is the author of The Packer Dispatch. He is entering his 12th season covering the Green Bay Packers after spending seven as the Editor-in-Chief of Packer Report. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. Follow him on Twitter @zachjacobson or contact him via email at itszachariahj@gmail.com.