Paul Bretl | 3/31/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. — During the NFL combine, it was reported by Ian Rapoport that the Packers were having trade conversations centered around cornerback Jaire Alexander. However, with April nearly here and the NFL draft on the horizon, Alexander remains a part of the team.
“I think we’re still working through that,” said GM Brian Gutekunst on Monday at the NFL league meeting. Obviously, a very, very good player for us, and we have some time here to figure that out. See what’s best for him and the organization.”
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Alexander suffered a torn posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in his right knee during the Packers’ Week 8 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Alexander attempted to return in Week 11 against Chicago, but would exit the game early on.
During the second half of the season, Alexander appeared to be trending in the right direction as he returned to the practice field and his workload seemed to steadily increase. However, Alexander was never able to get to the point where he was able to play on Sundays, and he ultimately ended up undergoing surgery prior to the Packers’ Week 18 finale, which officially ended his 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 didn’t have anything good to say.
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–a “frustrating” reality for both Alexander and the Packers, as Gutekunst put it after the season.
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 each of the 2023 and 2024 seasons. During the 2022 season, when he made 16 starts, Alexander was a second-team All-Pro.
On Monday, Gutekunst didn’t rule out Alexander remaining with the Packers for the 2025 season, saying “There could be a possibility, absolutely,” but those conversations around what’s next are still being had.
Of course, this is one of those questions where we ask ourselves, how else is Gutekunst supposed to respond? But if the opportunity to run things back for at least one more season exists, keeping that door open does make sense, given the unknowns that the Packers currently have at the cornerback position.
With that said, ultimately, whatever things end up going, Gutekunst wants to find the best solution for everyone involved.
“John Thornton is his agent,” Gutekunst said, “we talk weekly about these things, working together on finding the best solution for everybody. Obviously, we invested a lot into Jaire, and we want to make sure that if he’s not going to be on our football team helping us win games, that we get something back for that investment. So we’ll see where it goes, but again, working with him weekly and trying to figure out what’s best for both Jaire and the Packers.”
There doesn’t seem to be a hard deadline anytime soon when it comes to finding a resolution, whatever that may be, although Gutekunst did acknowledge that finding a solution before the NFL draft would be helpful.
“I think that would be nice,” said Gutekunst, “but I don’t think you can say that for sure. But I think that would be helpful.”
With two years left on his current deal, Alexander comes with a cap hit this season of $24.99 million. If traded or released, the Packers would save $6.87 million in cap space for the 2025 season, and Alexander’s contract would be off the books for the 2026 season, when Green Bay has some potentially expensive roster decisions to make.
However, if traded or released with a post-June 1st designation, the benefit in the short term is that the Packers’ cap savings in 2025 would sit at $17.11 million instead of $6.87 million. But the downside is that a portion of Alexander’s contract is still on the books in 2026 and would still be something that the Packers would have to continue to navigate around from a cap perspective.