One Packers Player Makes All-Decade Team

Pro Football Network revealed its All-Decade Team for the 2020s. Two players have Packers ties, including All-Pro kick returner Keisean Nixon.

Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon (25) runs back a kickoff return for 51-yards against Los Angeles Rams safety Jordan Fuller (4) during their game Sunday, November 5, 2023, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. / Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin /

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The decade isn’t even half-complete, but Pro Football Network published its All-Decade Team for the 2020s on Tuesday. One Green Bay Packers player and one former star made the list.

With back-to-back All-Pro seasons, Keisean Nixon is the kickoff returner ahead of the Vikings’ Kene Nwagnwu. Nixon led the NFL in kickoff returns and kickoff-return yards and was second in average in 2022. For an encore, he was No. 1 in kickoff returns, yards and average in 2023.

Finishing first in average last season comes with an asterisk in that only two returners had the 20 kickoff returns necessary to qualify.

In response to a play that had become practically irrelevant for most teams, the NFL approved a sweeping revamp of kickoffs that could give Nixon more opportunities for big plays.

“I feel like they’re changing it for me,” Nixon said during OTAs.

Because of his play on special teams as well as on defense as the team’s primary nickel defender, the Packers re-signed Nixon in free agency to a three-year contract.

“I’m happy I was back here. This is where I wanted to be,” Nixon said.

Dating to their time together in Las Vegas, special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia said he “absolutely adore(s)” Nixon, even if he wants to pull the hair out of his goatee on occasion.

“When you have the ball in your hand, you’re carrying the hopes and dreams of the entire team,” Bisaccia said before the start of OTAs. “So, when you make an action like what happened to us in the Giant game, I know it affects him because he knows it affected the game, which affects his teammates.

“But part of his fearlessness is the good plays, too, the really big plays that he makes. You have to take the bad with the good, I guess, but there’s a point where the decision-making process has to click for you and you make the right decision for your team. It’s not, I don’t have to prove myself every single play. I think he’s hopefully got to the point where he’s proven that he can be an accomplished return player.”

The only other player with Packers ties on the all-2020s team is Davante Adams, who joined the Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill, the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson and the Texans’ Stefon Diggs as the four receivers.

Adams was a Pro Bowler and All-Pro with the Packers in 2020 and 2021 and again with the Raiders in 2022. During those three seasons, Adams and Diggs were No. 1 with 338 receptions, Adams was second with 4,443 receiving yards and Adams was first with 43 touchdown receptions – a whopping 10 more than any other player. Even last year, with the Raiders’ quarterback situation in shambles, Adams caught 103 passes for 1,144 yards and eight touchdowns.

Having played in only 11 of a possible 34 games in 2021 and 2023, Jaire Alexander was not selected at cornerback. Darius Slay got the last spot. Having played in 15 of a possible 33 games in 2020 and 2022, the Packers’ big free-agent addition, Xavier McKinney, lost out to Minkah Fitzpatrick, Justin Simmons, Budda Baker and Antoine Winfield Jr. at safety.  

Click here for the full team.

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