Packers reportedly had trade conversations around CB Jaire Alexander

Paul Bretl | 2/26/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers have reportedly had trade conversations centered around cornerback Jaire Alexander, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network.

Rapoport would add that the Packers are open to moving the former All-Pro cornerback for the right price.

For a few months now, things seemed to be trending in this direction, and the update on this situation provided by GM Brian Gutekunst at the NFL Combine on Tuesday didn’t quiet that speculation.

“We’ll see,” Gutekunst said when asked if Alexander will be on the team next season. “We’re working through that. He certainly could be, but I think we’ll work through that as we go.”

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Alexander suffered a torn posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in his right knee late in the Packers’ Week 8 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, on a play in the end zone where he attempted to make a play on the football but came down awkwardly and injured his knee in the process.

Following Green Bay’s Week 10 bye, Alexander made an attempt to return to the field against Chicago in Week 11. However, he would reinjure his knee in that game and played only 10 snaps before exiting.

For several weeks, it seemed like Alexander was trending in the right direction. Prior to the Detroit game in Week 14, he returned to practice in a limited capacity for two days before missing the third day. The following week against Seattle, Alexander was a full participant for two days of practice before missing the third day, with LaFleur saying that he was not hitting the needed speeds in practice to play effectively that week.

A week later against New Orleans, Alexander returned to practice as a full participant all three days and was listed as questionable for that game. All of that seemed to be positive news up to this point, with Alexander’s workload in practice increasing each week.

However, when the inactives were announced prior to kickoff of that Saints’ game, Alexander was on that list. Then in the week leading up to the Minnesota game, Alexander went from being a full participant to a limited participant to not practicing at all on that Friday, with an apparent setback taking place.

“He had a little bit of a setback in the game, but it was one of those things where, at some point, you have to go out there and see if you can go,” Gutekunst said. “He gave us 10, 15 plays.

“Again, it was frustrating because it was one of those things where every time he kind of got to the point where we thought he was going to be able to get over the hump, he wasn’t able to. Give him a lot of credit for trying, trying to get out there and help us. But yeah, it was disappointing.”

Alexander would undergo surgery on December 31st, prior to the Packers’ regular-season finale against Chicago, ending his 2024 season. Of course, the big question, with hindsight always being 20/20, is, should the Packers and Alexander have orchestrated surgery right away when the injury occurred with the hope of him being able to return late in the season?

When players were cleaning out their lockers following the season-ending loss to Philadelphia, Alexander was asked by local media members to speak, but he declined, adding that he doesn’t know if he will be in Green Bay next season and that he doesn’t have anything good to say.

Gutekunst would mention that the Packers don’t typically let players and their agents talk to teams, but based on Rapoport’s report, it is Green Bay who is leading that charge.

“We’ve never really allowed agents to go out and talk to teams,” Gutekunst said. “I think that’s kind of (one of the) ones that probably happens, anyway. And Jaire’s got a great agent. If we ever went down that route, I think it would be very easy to work with him and his team. I think it’s something that if we were going to trade a player, we would do that and it would be the conversation between me and the other team.”

When on the field, Alexander continues to operate at a high level. This includes this past season allowing a completion rate of just 56% on 25 targets with a pick-six and three pass breakups. Unfortunately, due to injuries, Alexander often hasn’t been available.

Since the 2021 season, he has appeared in only 34 out of a possible 68 games. This includes playing only four games in 2021, and seven games in 2023 and 2024. During the 2022 season, when he made 16 starts, Alexander was a second-team All-Pro.

“I think obviously, we’ve talked about (how) there’s been a lot of frustration on his part,” added Gutekunst. “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 still has two years remaining on his contract. In 2025, he has a base salary of $16.15 million and a cap hit just shy of $25 million, according to Over the Cap. If the team were to trade him, a dead cap hit–or money still on the 2025 salary cap–of $18.11 million would be left behind, but it would free up $6.83 million in cap space for the 2025 season.

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