A tense medical tent visit sparked fears for the rising star's season, but Brandon Cisse clarifies his status after dodging a major preseason setback for the Green Bay Packers.
For one moment for the Green Bay Packers, time stood still.
The goal of the preseason is simply to get some reps and get out healthy, and the second preseason game against the Denver Broncos put a challenge to that second objective.
Playing with the first team at cornerback while also getting some snaps on special teams, rookie Brandon Cisse had to exit the game with an apparent injury.
He limped off the field on a special teams rep and went into the blue medical tent -- which is never a good sign.
After some time, Cisse exited the tent and instead of going back to the locker room, which would have been discouraging, he proceeded to get loose on the sideline.
It was undoubtedly a tense moment for Cisee and the Packers, because all indications in training camp suggest that he's trending to be a starter -- even as a rookie.
Had he got hurt or suffered a setback, that would have been a major blow to his early development as well as to the Packers likely plans of starting him ahead of either Carrington Valentine or even Keisean Nixon.
Thankfully, for all involved, Cisse revealed after the game that he took himself out, simply as a precaution.
He was playing as a gunner on special teams and felt "a little something" while trying to fight through a double team.
"I just got beat up a little bit. Nothing serious at all," Cisse said, per beat reporter Ryan Wood. "I was trying to go back in. Just being precautionary. I’m fine. Nothing to worry about. I wanted to go back in."
This is the right time to let out a huge sigh of relief.
For all intents and purposes, Cisse has looked the part so far for the Packers. He wasn't a first-round pick, but he may as well have been. The Packers didn't have a first-rounder in the 2026 NFL Draft because of the 2025 trade with the Dallas Cowboys that netted them Micah Parsons.
Cisee was their first selection, at pick No. 52, and he's brought everything to the table, plus more, that they were expecting.
He's a big kid at 6-foot, 189 pounds, but his size is matched with elite athleticism. He put up a 41-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot-11-inch broad jump at the NFL Combine and then later ran a 4.41-second 40-yard dash at his pro day.
So far in camp, he's proven to be sticky in coverage, refreshingly physical, and, more than anything, mature enough to handle the pressures of being a starting cornerback in the NFL.
"He's 21 years old. He's probably a little bit more mature than I was at 21," cornerbacks coach Daniel Bullocks recently said of Cisse. "He kind of has that old soul, ya know? He's all ball. Some guys come into the league young. They love ball, but they love to party as well. With Cisse, he's not a party guy. He's an all-ball guy."
Cisse is all-ball and alright, so all is right for the Packers.
