Jaire Alexander

Packers Aim To Resolve Jaire Alexander Situation Before Draft

March 31st, 2025 at 1:22pm CST by Adam La Rose

Indications from earlier this offseason pointed to Jaire Alexander‘s time with the Packers coming to an end in 2025. The high-priced cornerback remains on Green Bay’s roster for now, but a soft deadline has emerged for a resolution.

Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said at Monday’s league meetings he hopes this situation will come to an end before the draft (h/t Matt Schneidman of The Athletic). He noted keeping Alexander in place is a possibility at this point, although the team’s decision to shop him in advance of free agency obviously indicates a willingness to move on. If a trade agreement is to be worked out, finding appropriate value in a return will be a key challenge.

“We invested a lot in Jaire and want to make sure, if he’s not gonna be on our football team helping us win games, that we get something back for that investment,” Gutekunst said (via Schneidman). “So we’ll see where it goes.”

Alexander established himself as one of the league’s top cover men during the early portion of his career. The Louisville product found himself the highest-paid corner in the NFL at the time that he inked his extension in 2022, but things have not gone according to plan since then. Alexander has only played seven games in each of the past two years, and that lack of availability has outweighed performances roughly in line with those of past campaigns.

Green Bay’s list of initial free agent moves included a deal for Nate Hobbs. The former Raider inked a four-year, $48MM deal, and as a result he will be counted on to operate as a key figure in the Packers’ secondary. The Hobbs move could make a parting of ways easier on the Alexander front, especially if the team uses a high draft pick on another corner next month.

The 28-year-old is due a base salary of $16.15MM in 2025 and $18.15MM the following year. Those figures represent understandable causes for concern on the part of potential suitors and help explain the expectation a release – rather than a trade – will take place. Whatever the outcome in Alexander’s case, it may take place in the relatively near future.

CB Notes: Reed, Jets, Davis, Ward, Packers, Alexander, Hobbs, Raiders

March 4th, 2025 at 3:56pm CST by Sam Robinson

As is the case at wide receiver, the cornerback market will feature several players who have been in free agency before. A handful of this batch of third-contract-seeking cover men, however, are under 30. D.J. Reed may lead this contingent, with SNY’s Connor Hughes indicating the three-year Jets starter is believed to be the top free agent corner on the market. The Jets are not expected to re-sign Reed, per Hughes and The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt. This is certainly not too surprising, as the team paid slot corner Michael Carter last summer and has a top-market deal with Sauce Gardner on the horizon. Reed saw the writing on the wall as well, saying before his contract year he would test free agency. He has continued to point to an exit for months, and the former 49ers and Seahawks CB — who will turn 29 during the 2025 season — will soon see a strong market.

Here is the latest from the cornerback ranks:

The Eagles took two 30-something CB contracts (for Darius Slay and James Bradberry) off their payroll this week, leaving the market for experienced vets at the position thin. Beyond Jalen Ramsey, Chidobe Awuzie (three years, $36MM) is the only boundary corner attached to an eight-figure-per-year salary on a third contract. That number should expand soon, with the cap going up by another $24MM and a host of late-20-somethings hitting the market. Two more names who should do well: Carlton Davis and Charvarius Ward. Davis and Ward’s markets could reach the “high teens” in terms of AAV, Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz notes. That would be a substantial jump from where Awuzie is. Davis and Ward are each 28 and coming off three-year contracts, with the Buccaneers having traded Davis’ to the Lions. The 49ers extending Deommodore Lenoir points Ward out of town, while Davis did not discuss an extension with the Lions before season’s end. The Jaguars have been connected to the former Super Bowl LV starter.
Another late-20-something corner could be joining this quartet soon. Although the Packers are shopping Jaire Alexander, Schultz adds many NFL staffers expect the team to move on via release. The Packers have been viewed as highly unlikely to keep the 28-year-old CB another year, as injuries keep intervening during a $21MM-per-year contract. Two years remain on Alexander’s accord. The Pack could save $17.1MM by designating Alexander as a post-June 1 cut; they would need to wait until the start of the 2025 league year (March 12) to cut him in that case.
Not all of the notable corners hitting free agency will be gunning for a third contract. Nate Hobbs joins Paulson Adebo and Asante Samuel Jr. as regular starters set to test the market for the first time. Adebo is expected to, despite suffering a broken femur in October, garner significant interest. The Saints are interested in re-signing him. Hobbs is close to seeing an interesting market emerge. Despite an inability to stay healthy, the Raiders slot corner is being mentioned as a player who could command Kenny Moore-level money, The Athletic’s Tashan Reed notes, adding that significant interest is coming the four-year vet’s way. Moore’s third Colts contract came in at three years, $30MM last March. Taron Johnson soon upped the slot market to just beyond $10MM per annum. Although Hobbs is not as proven as those two players, he did generate trade interest from the 49ers and has four years of experience patrolling the slot for the Raiders.

Packers Shopping CB Jaire Alexander

February 26th, 2025 at 10:54am CST by Sam Robinson

A Green Bay departure for Jaire Alexander is looking likelier. Mentioned as a player expected to be on the move this offseason, Alexander is now being shopped.

The Packers have engaged in trade talks with teams on the veteran cover man, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. Two years remain on Alexander’s $21MM-AAV contract. While the Packers are OK moving Alexander for the right price, the CB’s contract would work against the NFC North team obtaining too much in terms of compensation. Then again, the Saints were able to land a third-rounder and two other picks for Marshon Lattimore, a high-priced corner who has been nearly as unavailable as Alexander has over the past two seasons.

GM Brian Gutekunst said Tuesday (via the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein) he has not given a player permission to shop himself in trades in the past, but the Combine will be a place where the Packers and the cornerback’s camp huddle up to determine if there is a future here. The Pack followed this path with Aaron Jones, who rejected what would have been a second pay cut. Gutekunst said last year Jones was in Green Bay’s plans and rebuffed Alexander trade rumors. The veteran exec’s tune is different this year on the talented but unreliable corner.

“We’re working through that. He certainly could be, but I think we’ll work through that as we go,” Gutekunst said of Alexander’s place on the 2025 Packers (via The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman). “We’ve got to get him out there now. I think obviously, we’ve talked about (how) there’s been a lot of frustration on his part. He wants to be out there badly and not being able to be out there at his best has frustrated him and that has frustrated our football team, too, because we’re better with him. But we’ll see.”

Alexander, 28, has not justified his four-year, $84MM deal. That contract stood as the game’s top CB deal for nearly 2 1/2 years, as it took until Patrick Surtain‘s $24MM-AAV accord to top it last September. Alexander had missed most of the 2021 season, which did not slow him on the contract front, but has also been unavailable for extended stretches over the past two years. The former first-round pick has missed 10 games in each of the past two seasons, and the strange coin-toss incident in Carolina — which prompted a one-game Packers suspension — served as one of the memorable moments from this period.

The seven-year veteran is due a $16.15MM base salary in 2025. Given his limited participation over the past two seasons, the Packers are likely not keen on paying that. We heard shortly after the season Alexander’s 2024 season was likely his last in Green Bay. A matter of the Packers obtaining something in return now remains, as the Pro Bowler would be a release candidate otherwise. The Packers would create more than $6MM in cap space by trading Alexander; the move would come with more than $18MM in dead money, however.

Alexander’s likely exit will give the Pack more CB work to do this offseason. Eric Stokes, who did not justify his first-round status on his rookie deal, is on the verge of free agency. Keisean Nixon remains under contract, however. Former seventh-rounder Carrington Valentine, who has been needed regularly due to the first-rounders’ injury trouble, has two years left on his rookie pact.

Departure Likely For Packers CB Jaire Alexander; Team Hopes To Re-Sign K Brandon McManus

February 18th, 2025 at 9:49am CST by Adam La Rose

As the Packers map out their offseason, they have a number of important decisions to make. Among the most notable of those is a call on Jaire Alexander.

Green Bay made Alexander the league’s highest-paid cornerback when he inked a four-year, $84MM extension in the spring of 2022. While his $21MM AAV has since been surpassed on two occasions, expectations have remained high as a result of the pact. Alexander has delivered strong play when on the field since signing his second contract, but the frequency with which he has been sidelined (along with perceived tension with the team) has led to speculation about a release.

“There’s frustration, I think, on both sides, from the fact he can’t get out there,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said when speaking about Alexander’s situation (via Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette). “That’s tough. I feel for him because he wants to be out there, he wants to play. But no disconnect.”

While it is certainly possible at this point that the Packers could elect to keep the former first-rounder in place for 2025, a parting of ways would not come as a surprise. Indeed, ESPN’s Rob Demovsky writes there are “strong indications” Alexander will not be back, adding multiple sources from within the organization are frustrated with his injury-driven absences. After making 16 appearances in 2022, the Packers’ top cover man has been limited to seven games in each of the past two years.

Alexander is set to carry cap hits of $24.96MM and $27.38MM in 2025 and ’26, the final two years of his pact. A release before June 1 would not create a net savings for the team, but a post-June 1 designation would yield just over $17MM in cap space along with a dead money charge of $7.88MM. Those funds could be put towards a less expensive replacement at the CB spot as the Packers also seek out upgrades along the defensive front through free agency and the draft this spring.

In addition to making a decision on Alexander, Green Bay will look to find stability at the kicking spot. The Anders Carlson selection in 2023 did not go as planned, and the Packers spent last offseason cycling though several options at the position. Brandon McManus proved to be a worthwhile midseason addition, though, connecting on 20 of his 21 field goal attempts and each of his 30 extra point kicks. Despite one miss in the wild-card round of the playoffs, McManus is a priority for the Packers with respect to a new deal.

“If we were able to get Brandon back, I think certainly that would make me feel very, very, very good about that [specialist] group,” Gutekunst said (via Demovsky) when asked about retaining McManus.

The Packers currently sit mid-pack in terms of projected cap space, and a modest deal is no doubt all that will be required to keep McManus in place. Green Bay could free up additional funds by moving on from Alexander, and his situation will remain one to watch closely as cost-cutting season unfolds around the league.

Packers Rumors: Alexander, Walker, Wyatt, McManus, Nixon

February 2nd, 2025 at 11:05am CST by Rory Parks

At his season-ending press conference last month, Packers GM Brian Gutekunst left the door open for CB Jaire Alexander to return to the team in 2025.

“[W]e’re at the beginning stages of just kind of gathering information as a whole before we start looking at next year and how we’re going to lay this thing out,” Gutekunst said of Alexander’s status. “But we could (pay him). I mean, obviously, when he’s healthy and he’s ready to play, he’s a pretty good player” (via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic (subscription required)).

Clearly, that is far from a commitment to bringing Alexander back in 2025, and Schneidman believes the two-time Pro Bowler has already played his last snap for Green Bay. Alexander is technically under club control through 2026, but his $16.15MM salary and ~$25MM cap number for 2025 could prove unpalatable for Gutekunst & Co., who could create $6.84MM of cap space by cutting or trading the Louisville product before June 1 (a post-June 1 maneuver would clear over $17MM of room this year).

As Gutekunst noted, Alexander has plenty of value when healthy. Unfortunately, that has not been the case in recent history. The market-topping four-year, $84MM contract Gutekunst authorized for Alexander in May 2022 led to promising early returns, as Alexander played 16 games that season, intercepted a career-high five passes, and yielded a career-best 63.7 QB rating as part of a Pro Bowl effort. But Alexander played in just seven games in both of the last two seasons, with his 2024 campaign cut short by a PCL tear.

After the December 2023 coin-toss fiasco led to a one-game suspension and trade/release rumors last offseason, the Packers elected to keep their talented but injury-prone defender in the fold. This year, however, he may have a new employer.

As Schneidman notes, Gutekunst sounded much more positive when discussing the Green Bay futures of 2022 first-rounders Quay Walker and Devonte Wyatt. The team must decide whether to exercise the fifth-year options on both players by May 1, an option that would keep them under club control through 2026.

“We’re super fired (up) about both those guys’ seasons this year,” Gutekunst said. “Quay continued to make a leap and another guy who had struggled through injuries at the end of the year, but he was really impactful for us this year. Continues to be a great leader for us. Certainly think we would love to have him around here for longer than just a couple years. He’s that kind of guy. And D-Wy was probably our most consistent pass rusher from the inside this year. Both of them dealt with some injuries and was really proud of how they attacked those and played through some things this year, but I think both those guys had their best years as pros so far.”

At the start of the 2024 season, it sounded as if Walker would not have his option picked up. And in terms of the advanced metrics, his performance last year was fairly underwhelming, as his 57.4 overall grade from Pro Football Focus positioned him as the 63rd-best linebacker out of 84 qualified players (which is roughly in line with his first two pro seasons). Given that he does not play a premium position, and given that his fifth-year option is worth a fully-guaranteed $16.06MM, it would not surprise if the option were declined. On the other hand, Gutekunst’s comments made it seem as if he values Walker more highly than the analytics do.

Wyatt’s fifth-year option would check in just north of $13MM, but after totaling 10.5 sacks over the 2023-23 seasons, he has established himself as a viable pass-rushing presence from the interior of the defensive line, even if his run defense could still use some improvement. Of course, getting after the quarterback is the name of the game in today’s NFL, and having an interior defender who can consistently put pressure on opposing passers is a luxury.

Gutekunst also made it plain that he would like to re-sign kicker Brandon McManus (via Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). McManus, who recently faced sexual assault allegations stemming from his time as a member of the Jaguars, signed with the Packers in October and resolved the civil suit filed by his accusers (it is unclear if the suit was dismissed or if the parties reached a settlement). On the field, the 33-year-old specialist was terrific for Green Bay, nailing 20 of 21 field goal attempts and all 30 PATs last season.

Thanks in part to Alexander’s injury-related absences, Keisean Nixon has seen plenty of action at cornerback over the past two seasons. Although he has not necessarily thrived in that role, he wants to focus on his defense as opposed to his kick return duties moving forward.

Nixon, who will turn 28 in June, earned First-Team All-Pro honors in 2022 and 2023 for his efforts as a return man, but he ran back just 18 kickoffs in 2024, compared to 35 in 2022 and 30 in 2023. The recent rule changes relating to kickoffs played a major role in that development.

“I’m kind of over it,” Nixon said of his third phase work (as relayed by Schneidman in a separate subscribers-only piece). “I don’t really want to do it no more. There’s going to be talks with the coaching staff and stuff like that, but I think it’s over with for me.”

Nixon is under contract through 2026 and is due just $1.17MM in base pay this year.

Packers Placing CB Jaire Alexander On IR

January 4th, 2025 at 3:38pm CST by Ely Allen

The Packers will be playing the final week of the regular season without star cornerback Jaire Alexander, much like they have the last six weeks. In fact, after the team placed him on injured reserve — first reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network — Alexander is set to miss nearly all of the postseason, as well. Forced to miss at least four games before activation becomes an option, Alexander’s only chance at making another appearance this season requires a Super Bowl berth by the Packers.

Such a return remains extremely unlikely, though. Alexander underwent knee surgery earlier this week following a PCL tear that he suffered in November. Alexander hasn’t played since the injury was announced a month and a half ago. The team delayed placing him on IR in hopes that he could make a return, but the surgery and IR-placement seem to indicate that his season is over.

The Packers’ effort to replace Alexander’s production has mostly consisted of starts by Carrington Valentine, who started 12 games in an effort to replace Alexander during another injury-plagued campaign last year. He’s received help from Keisean Nixon and Eric Stokes to fill in this year, as well.

The Packers have put forth a strong, 11-5 effort in 2024, yet they find themselves sitting in third place in the NFC North division behind herculean campaigns by the Lions and Vikings, who both sit at an incredible 14-2. Green Bay is locked into the playoffs as a wild card team, but all they can do in Week 18 is improve their seeding from seventh to sixth with a win and a Commanders loss; this would be the difference between traveling to Philadelphia for the first round of the playoffs and traveling to Los Angeles, Tampa Bay, or Atlanta.

Green Bay also announced their two standard gameday practice squad elevations for this week. Linebacker Michael Barrett and safety Omar Brown will spend the last week of the regular season on the active roster before reverting to the practice squad for the postseason.

Packers’ Jaire Alexander Undergoes Knee Surgery; CB Unlikely To Return This Season

January 1st, 2025 at 2:02pm CST by Sam Robinson

Questions lingered about the status of Jaire Alexander for the closing stages of the regular season and the playoffs. The Packers corner should not be expected to return, however.

Head coach Matt LaFleur said on Wednesday that Alexander underwent knee surgery. As a result, he is likely to be sidelined for the remainder of the campaign. While this was an arthroscopic procedure, the odds point to the talented cornerback not being able to return. That said, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter does note that a Super Bowl LIX return could be in the cards. Green Bay would need to likely win three road games for that to be in play.

As was the case last season and during the 2021 campaign, Alexander has been unable to stay on the field for the Packers. He will wrap this season having played in only seven games, none since November 17. Prior to undergoing the scope, Alexander continued to reinjure his knee in practice, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein writes.

A November report indicated Alexander sustained a PCL tear, making it fairly interesting no surgery commenced at that point. The timeline here stings the Packers, though they have made do without their high-priced boundary defender in the weeks since. Part of the Packers’ effort to replace Alexander last season, Carrington Valentine has started the past six games. He has teamed with Keisean Nixon and Eric Stokes in this adjusted CB contingent.

The Pack have been largely unable to play Alexander and Stokes together. The latter, a 2021 first-round pick, saw extensive run while Alexander was sidelined with a shoulder injury in 2021 but then saw his career altered by knee and foot trouble the following season. Stokes barely played last year, as Alexander missed nine games. Stokes has made his return during a contract year; Pro Football Focus has him slotted 71st among CB regulars.

As Green Bay has Stokes on an expiring contract, Alexander has not justified his extension. Prior to Patrick Surtain‘s four-year, $96MM deal, Alexander’s four-year, $84MM pact had paced corners for more than two years. Although the 2018 first-round pick played 16 games during a Pro Bowl 2022 season, he has not followed that up with regular attendance. The 19 games missed over the past two seasons could certainly impact Alexander’s future in Green Bay.

Alexander is under contract through 2026 and is only closing out his age-27 season. We are also about a year removed from his coin-toss incident in Charlotte, which led to a one-game suspension and speculation about how the Packers would proceed. GM Brian Gutekunst shut down any trade rumors, and the Packers moved forward with their No. 1 corner. It would cost them more than $18MM in dead money to move on after this year, though that could be spread out over two offseasons via a post-June 1 release. However, the Packers would create a major need at the position by going in this direction.

Adam La Rose contributed to this post.

Packers CB Jaire Alexander Suffered Torn PCL

November 21st, 2024 at 5:22pm CST by Ben Levine

Jaire Alexander has been limited by a knee issue over the past few weeks, and it sounds like the injury is worse than the cornerback and the Packers initially let on. Alexander told Matt Schneidman of The Athletic that he suffered a PCL tear that might keep him off the field for several more weeks.

Alexander suffered the tear during Green Bay’s Week 8 win over Jacksonville. He sat out the team’s Week 9 contest and had a bye during Week 10. After practicing on a limited basis last week, Alexander started Sunday’s win over the Bears, but he only got into 10 defensive snaps before exiting the game for good. As Schneidman notes, coach Matt LaFleur had previously revealed that Alexander would be on a snap limit for Week 11, but the cornerback was still expected to play more than a handful of drives.

“I stayed here the whole bye week trying to hopefully come back and make an impact for the team,” Alexander told Schneidman. “It was a game-time decision at that, so we didn’t know … until, you know, a few minutes before the game if I would play or not.

“I just tried to give it a go … I went out there and s–t, all I could really give was 10 plays and then it — I felt something. If you know how (posterior cruciate ligaments) work, it don’t just get done in three weeks, so it just needed more time. I reaggravated it going back out there and only doing 10 plays, so now we just trying to get my knee back right.”

Alexander expressed optimism that he can get back to his All-Pro production for the stretch run of the 2024 campaign. However, the cornerback cautioned that he may need more time off as he looks to return to full strength.

The former first-round pick established himself as one of the NFL’s top defensive backs with strong showings in 2020 and 2022. Unfortunately, his other recent campaigns have been wrecked by injuries. He was limited to four games in 2021 thanks to a shoulder injury, and he got into only seven games in 2023 while dealing with back and shoulder issues (along with a one-game suspension). Alexander also missed a pair of games earlier this season while nursing a groin injury.

Keisean Nixon has secured the other starting CB spot this season and will continue to lead the depth chart with Alexander out of the lineup. Eric Stokes got a long look as the team’s third CB but was passed by Carrington Valentine in Week 11.

Packers Expect To Retain Aaron Jones, Not Considering Jaire Alexander Trade

February 1st, 2024 at 1:10pm CST by Sam Robinson

The 2023 offseason involved multiple teams moving pricey running back contracts off their payroll, while others — the Packers included — reached pay-cut agreements with veteran starters. Aaron Jones‘ contract runs through 2024 and sees its cap number increase significantly, seemingly putting the accomplished back on unstable ground.

GM Brian Gutekunst may be putting a stop to talk of Jones leaving Green Bay, however, indicating (via The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman) the Packers “absolutely” expect their starting running back to be on the 2024 roster. Jones has been with the Packers since 2017. Of the deep 2017 RB draft class, only he, Alvin Kamara and Joe Mixon remain with the teams that selected them.

Jones agreed to take a $5MM pay cut last February, with that deal adding an $8.52MM signing bonus. The restructure added void years to the veteran back’s deal and trimmed his 2023 cap figure to $8.2MM. The cap hit spikes to $17MM in 2024, potentially pointing to another Packers move to address their top RB’s deal.

“He was such a difference-maker when he was out there this year, the way our offense was able to move,” Gutekunst said. “He changed a lot of the way we operated when he was in there and when he was healthy. He’s just really the heartbeat of our team.”

A Jones extension would make sense, as the void years on the current deal would bring a $6.6MM dead-money hit if he is not re-signed before the 2025 league year. Though, teams are no longer making a habit of reupping backs in their late 20s. The Packers gave Jones a four-year, $48MM deal just before free agency in 2021, changing course after several years of not paying running backs. The NFL largely opted to squeeze RBs last year, bringing another value drop for a position long past its prestige peak.

Jones, 29, missed time this season due to MCL and hamstring issues. These injuries caused the seven-year veteran to miss six games. But the UTEP alum proved effective when available, finishing the season surging. Returning to action in Week 14, the former fifth-round pick closed the season with five consecutive 100-yard rushing performances. This counted two in the playoffs, springing the Packers past the Cowboys and nearly upsetting the No. 1-seeded 49ers six days later. Jones’ veteran presence certainly helped a Packer team reliant on nothing but first- or second-year pass catchers.

AJ Dillon is coming off a sluggish contract year, being set to hit free agency at a bad time — as a crowded RB market is set to form. Jones being released — a move that would come with $12MM in dead money without a post-June 1 designation — would send him to a market that could well house Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Derrick Henry, Austin Ekeler, Tony Pollard and D’Andre Swift. Dillon is unlikely to secure a lucrative deal on this market. The Packers losing Jones would also create a major need, albeit at a position that is among the easiest to fill.

Additionally, Gutekunst made an effort to cool down Jaire Alexander trade rumors. The longtime Packers GM said, via Schneidman, no consideration is being given to trading Alexander. Following Alexander’s coin-toss fiasco that led to a one-game suspension, a report injected doubt about the highly paid cornerback’s Wisconsin future. The Packers owe Alexander an $8MM roster bonus on March 20.

The Packers gave Alexander a four-year, $84MM extension — one that remains the NFL’s high-water AAV mark for corners — in 2022 but have seen the former first-round pick miss extensive time due to injuries over the past three seasons. After a shoulder malady cost Alexander most of the 2021 season, he missed 10 games this year. That and the costly contract dent Alexander’s trade value. That said, Pro Football Focus rated the six-year veteran in the top 25 at the position this season.

Packers Could Part Ways With CB Jaire Alexander

December 31st, 2023 at 6:16pm CST by Rory Parks

Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander may have just one more game with Green Bay. The two-time Pro Bowler has been suspended for the club’s Week 17 game against the Vikings, and while he is expected to return for the regular season finale, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com makes it clear that Alexander may not be in the Packers’ long-term plans.

According to Schefter, Green Bay’s decision on whether to retain Alexander will hinge on the $8MM roster bonus that he is due on March 20. If the team decides to keep Alexander in the fold, it will simply pay out the bonus and move on. However, Schefter reports that the Packers could explore a trade or even a release before the bonus comes due.

Alexander signed a four-year, $84MM extension in May 2022, a deal that made him the highest-paid corner in NFL history in terms of average annual value (though his $30MM in full guarantees only ranked 12th among his cornerback peers). The Louisville product did nothing to make the team regret its decision in the first year of his new contract, as he earned his second Pro Bowl nod, intercepted a career-best five passes, and earned a stellar 80.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus in 2022.

Unfortunately, 2023 has not been as kind to Alexander. He has missed nine games due to injury this season, and in his return after a six-game absence last week, he unexpectedly joined the designated captains for the coin toss — despite not being chosen as a captain — and called out “tails.” Though he won the toss, he made a critical error by saying that the Packers wished to start the game on defense, which is not the same as deferring to the second half. In other words, the Panthers nearly started both halves with the ball, and would have done so if head coach Matt LaFleur had not communicated his intentions to referee Alex Kemp prior to the game, and if Kemp had not clarified Alexander’s decision.

Alexander also expressed no remorse for the gaffe, instead implying that it was “only suiting” for him to join the captains since the game was in Charlotte and since he is a Charlotte native (a fact that he believed LaFleur was unaware of). Schefter adds that the Packers, who prefer their players to participate in their offseason program in Green Bay, do not like the fact that Alexander does not do so; indeed, Alexander forfeited a $700K workout bonus in the spring so that he could train in Florida instead.

Despite that, Dianna Russini of The Athletic (subscription required) hears that Alexander is not considered a “problem child” within the organization. Although the injuries are a concern — Alexander also missed all but four games of the 2021 campaign — his abilities, age (he will turn 27 in February) and the fact that a trade or release would create a significant dead money charge would seem to indicate that he will be back in Green Bay in 2024. However, Russini, like Schefter, believes that a parting of the ways is a real possibility.

Load More Posts