Packers’ Brandon Cisse Has Legendary Reason for Legendary Number

GREEN BAY – When Green Bay Packers cornerback Brandon Cisse, the team’s first pick in last week’s draft, arrived at Lambeau Field and got to pick his jersey number, his choices were No. 2 and No. 13.

This photo of the legendary Charles Woodson is a reason why he chose No. 2.

Charles Woodson, the year we won the Rose Bowl .. pic.twitter.com/tXLl2K2TIW
— Natty Corner (@WolverineCorner) September 28, 2014

“When he had the Rose Bowl, had the rose in his mouth with the 2, that’s a picture I still have on my phone,” Cisse said after Day 1 of the Packers’ rookie minicamp on Friday.

Woodson, of course, won the Heisman Trophy and national championship for Michigan in 1997 before embarking on a Pro Football Hall of Fame career that included seven superlative seasons with the Packers. With Green Bay, he was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2009 and a Super Bowl champion in 2010.

“Elite ball skills, obviously freakishly athletic, can do everything, super-versatile,” Cisse said. “And just his mentality. He changed his game. He’s always one of my favorites to watch.”

The Packers would settle for a career half as productive as that of Woodson, who ranks fifth in NFL history in interceptions and second in pick-sixes.

The first step of Cisse’s NFL journey began on Friday.

“Just super-excited. Kind of gave me chills,” he said of his first impressions of Lambeau Field. “Just somewhere different. I didn’t visit here on a ‘30’ (visit), so when I got to see the facility, it’s like, ‘Hey, a new starting point,’ and the facility is amazing, so couldn’t ask for anywhere better to be.”

The Packers entered the draft with a need at cornerback, where neither of the returning starters, Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine, could be considered elite stoppers or playmakers. Cisse, though, is ready to learn from the veterans as he begins his NFL path.

“I think first it starts with taking and learning from the vets,” he said. “Those guys have been in the league for a long time, and those are guys that have experience so trying to learn the ins and outs.

“Sometimes it’s just best to shut up and learn from the guys in front of you first and just come from a humble place. Whatever they tell me, I know they’re telling me out of a place of respect, so just coming in ready to work and ready to learn and just keep improving every day.”

Cisse said he’s already talked to Nixon, who also played at South Carolina, and safety Xavier McKinney, the All-Pro and defensive captain. Together, they’ll be growing in the defensive system being installed by new coordinator Jonathan Gannon and defensive passing-game coordinator and secondary coach Bobby Babich.

“Obviously, he’s worked with a lot of great corners,” Cisse said of Gannon. “Darius Slay and Xavier Rhodes, those are guys that we’re watching, breaking down tape, and then coach (Bobby) Babich does a really good job from when he was in Buffalo. He’s got a really good plan for me and I’m excited for it, but it starts one day at a time. I got to keep working and getting better. Gotta dominate this scheme, keep taking everything in, and being a sponge.”

The words “dominate this scheme” wouldn’t have taken South Carolina co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Torrian Gray by surprise.

“They drafted a guy who seems like, if he told me what his hobby was, as far as I know, it seems like it would be football,” Gray told Packers On SI.

That driven mentality includes an insatiable appetite for film. Gray said he’d hear from Cisse as late as 10 or 11 p.m. looking for clips of this and that.

“There’s always an edge and there’s always something else to learn and I’m just eager to learn,” Cisse said. “There’s always something you can mix and match. There’s always an answer to everything. That’s the good thing about playing defense is you’re reacting, but there’s always a plan and there’s always something you can do to switch up to make some situation better. And I just crave that kind of challenge.”

The Packers have something they’re craving, too. They haven’t won the Super Bowl since the Woodson-led team in 2010. They’ve made the playoffs each of the last three seasons but only as the No. 7 seed. They had to swallow one-and-done exits each of the last two years.

For now, the challenge for Cisse is learning the playbook. The long-term challenge is finally winning a fifth Super Bowl.

“Lambeau Field and, obviously, a team that’s won 13 championships, so we’re trying to get our 14th,” he said. “Whatever I can do to help the team right away and whatever they need me to do I’m going to do that. It’s always a chase to go get a 14th one.”

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