On Wednesday, the Oakland Raiders signed cornerback Brandian Ross to their 53-man roster. And today, the Packers have filled Ross’s spot on the practice squad with another cornerback.
James Nixon, an undrafted rookie cornerback, joined the team and joins Lawrence Guys as the Packers’ only two defensive players on their eight-man practice squad. Nixon started out his collegiate career at Temple, before transferring to California University of Pennsylvania for his senior season.
However, Nixon only made two starts at cornerback his senior season, as the coaching staff shuffled him all over the field, playing defensive back, running back, wide receiver and special teams.
Nixon, listed at 6’1″ 190, has great size for the position. He played some running back and wide receiver at Temple, and he ran a blazing 4.31 forty-yard dash at his pro day. After spending a couple seasons at Temple as a running back/wide receiver hybrid, Nixon switched to defensive back for the Owls.
Ted Thompson chose to sign Nixon instead of adding wide receiver Tori Gurley, who was recently waived by the Minnesota Vikings. The addition of Nixon gives the Packers 11 defensive backs.
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Marques is a Journalism student, serving as the Sports Editor of UW-Green Bay\'s campus newspaper The Fourth Estate and a Packers writer at Jersey Al\'s AllGBP.com. Follow Marques on Twitter @MJEversoll.
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“Nixon, listed at 6’1″ 190, has great size for the position. He played some running back and wide receiver at Temple, and he ran a blazing 4.31 forty-yard dash at his pro day. After spending a couple seasons at Temple as a running back/wide receiver hybrid, Nixon switched to defensive back for the Owls.”
He played Running Back/Wide Receiver and can has shown to have a quick burst even though I don’t really care about the 40 time.
With the news of Jennings possibly on the leave, this guy sounds like a Offensive project more than a Defensive one. His body size, and weight makes him a ideal candidate for a speed-route in the offense we run.
Although he can always learn to play defensive as well. He is going to spend all year on the Practice Squad, maybe he should play on both sides of the ball and see how we can use him next practice camp.
We could Troy Brown him!
I would go for a Desmond Howard 2.0 myself.
He measured just under 6’0″ at prodays. 4.31 40 yrd. 4.0 in 20 yrd shuttle. He played a little of everything including PR KR. Think of him as a developmental Randall Cobb type player. If Jennings goes and Cobb plays more WR roles than another player might need to be the Returner. As a backup WR/DB and starting returner he would be a great devlopmental player on the squad with a chance to try and make the team next year.
Boy, how quickly Gurley’s star has faded.
How a dream falls apart, Gurley has fallen off two teams wow its got to hurt.