One of the biggest surprises of the 2022 Green Bay Packers season was the emergence of Keisean Nixon as the team’s kickoff returner. An undrafted free agent signed by the Oakland Raiders in 2019, Nixon came to the Packers in 2022 and by the time the season had ended, he led the NFL in kickoff return yards and was selected as a first team All-Pro by the Professional Football Writers Association.
Keisean Nixon broke Packers record for most consecutive games with 100+ yards in kick returns
Nixon in 2022 broke the team record for most consecutive games with 100 or more kick return yards (kickoffs and punts). He accomplished this in the last eight weeks of the season (from Week #10 through Week #17). The previous Packers record for most consecutive weeks with 100+ kick return yards was five weeks by Roell Preston in 1998.
The NFL record for most consecutive weeks with 100+ kick return yards is 15 by New Orleans’ Michael Lewis in 2001-02. Nixon is the sixth player in NFL history to have 100+ kick return yards in eight or more consecutive games and the first since 2007. He will start the 2023 campaign with a chance to move up the list and possibly challenge the league record. The six:
Nixon could challenge the all-time NFL record
15 consecutive games: Michael Lewis, New Orleans (2001-02)
11 consecutive games: Charlie Rogers, Seattle (1999-2000)
9 consecutive games: Dante Hall, Kansas City, 2004
9 consecutive games: Glyn Milburn, Detroit, 1996
8 consecutive games: Steve Breaston, Arizona, 2007
8 consecutive games: Keisean Nixon, Green Bay, 2022
As stated above, Nixon led the NFL this past season in most kickoff return yards with 1009. He became the sixth Green Bay player to reach 1,000 yards in kickoff returns. The aforementioned Roell Preston holds the team record for most kickoff return yards in a season with 1,497 in 1998.
The 1,000-yard kickoff returners in Packers history
Roell Preston, 1,497 in 1998
Dave Hampton, 1,314 in 1971
Allen Rossum, 1,288 in 2000
Wil Blackmon, 1,157 in 2008
Steve Odom, 1,034 in 1975
Keisean Nixon, 1,009 in 2022
One more thing to consider about Keisean Nixon’s season: He returned at least one kickoff in 11 of the Packers 17 games. Imagine if he had returned kickoffs in those six games. He averaged 91.7 kickoff return yards per game; that would have added another 550 yards to his season total bringing it to 1,559. That would have broken the Packers record for most kickoff return yards in a season.
Oh well, what could have been.
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