Dix is the type of player that I see enough negative from that I forget why he is still out there and I fully admit that he is probably doing way more good things that I do not see.
Unless you're scouring the all-22 coaches tape, at Game Pass for example, a high safety is
certainly doing a lot of things you don't see.
High safeties simply don't appear on the broadcast screen unless the ball is thrown downfield, and even then you don't see what the guy was doing before the ball arrives, whether he was working somebody else, the anticipation, the adjustment, the closing speed and angle. Sometimes you get an end zone or all-22 replay that might show that, but not very often.
So, how might we square the C-D PFF grade of 87.7 ("high quality", 2.3 points shy of elite) with an eye test that includes some missed tackles and maybe a blown red zone coverage (though that one might have been on King stopping short)? Perhaps it has to do with all the plays where teams do not throw in his direction. Does the eye test say opponents have not thrown much in his direction or avoided going over the top against his high coverage? I believe that's the case. Does that get you all the way to that PFF grade? Probably not, but it just might tell you "why he is still out there".
There was some resentment expressed toward C-D recently because of his comments to the affect that he does not expect to be in Green Bay next season,“That’s how I look at it. I just be honest with myself." I think some people took that as a desire to leave. I did not read that in his comments. It's equally likely that the Packers have made a low ball extension offer or have refused to negotiate at all with a luke warm, "we'll see where we're at after the season". It would hardly be the first time, with circustances in recent years ranging from Woodson given no offer at all when he went back to Oakland, according to his telling, up to Nelson offered only the vet minimum according to some reports, and in between other luke warm attempts to re-sign players.
Will C-D be offered more than he's worth by some other team while the Packers refuse to enter into the auction or enter a low ball bid? That's certainly possible. But is that C-D's problem? Certainly not.
Regardless, one would hope his expectation that he'll be gone should not color assessment of his play.
Should he have said that stuff to the press? It's not a good look. It is a way of saying to other teams, "be thinking about me in your plans", so there is an understandable if somewhat unseemly point to it.
