Paul Bretl 1/1/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers will most likely have to navigate their upcoming playoff push without cornerback Jaire Alexander. After practice on Wednesday, head coach Matt LaFleur announced that Alexander would have surgery on his knee and that he was “most likely” out for the rest of the season.
“It’s unfortunate,” added LaFleur. “I feel for him. Obviously, he was trying to get his knee right, it wasn’t getting right, and so, yeah, it’s a tough deal for all of us.”
Matt Schneidman of The Athletic would later report that Alexander had a scope to help repair the torn posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in his right knee on Tuesday, December 31st.
Alexander suffered the injury 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.
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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, most recently, 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, and it doesn’t sound like that only happened on one occasion.
“It’s been tough,” said Xavier McKinney of Alexander’s injury. “Obviously, he’s dealt with this injury pretty much all year. Obviously, we wanted him to be back out there, but injuries are part of the game. So we understand that. We know that he was working to try to get back, but it’s like every time he was trying to, he would tweak it again.
“It’s a part of the game. We’re just trying to be with him as much as possible, try to make sure he was good mentally because I knew how much it was hurting him not to be out there with us, just having conversations with him personally. Those were the challenges that he faced and I think that we’ve seen, for us as a group.”
On Monday when asked if there was a difference in opinion between Alexander and the Packers’ medical team, LaFleur said, “I can’t really get into all that. I do know that he’s been dealing with swelling and he doesn’t feel right to go out there and play.”
Alexander finished the season appearing in seven games. He allowed a completion rate of 56% on 25 targets and 16.2 yards per catch with two interceptions and three pass breakups.
One of the big question marks is if the Packers and Alexander tried to rush him back too soon when he attempted to return against Chicago just a few weeks after suffering the injury. Ultimately, we’ll never know and it’s not a question that will be answered at this time.
“We can go back in time–that’s not what I’m trying to do right now,” added LaFleur. “It’s the situation. It stinks that we’re here but we’re here.”
Not having Alexander on the field obviously takes away a premiere player at that position. But his presence also has a trickle-down effect to how Jeff Hafley builds his game-plans. With a player of Alexander’s caliber on one side of the field, knowing he can handle even the most difficult matchups, provides Hafley with added flexibility in what he asks of other defenders.
“When Ja is healthy, he’s one of the best corners in our league,” Hafley said prior to the Seattle game. “Week in and week out, when you’re playing against some premier players, sometimes it’s helpful to have a premier player to have out there with him.”
Since the offseason, the Packers have continually expressed the confidence that they have in the secondary and their actions–not drafting a cornerback until the seventh round and not making a trade deadline addition–back those sentiments up. Now, whether that confidence was misplaced or not, we will find out in the coming weeks.
Without Alexander, we’ve seen Carrington Valentine emerge as the starting boundary cornerback option opposite of Keisean Nixon. Over the last four games games, Valentine has forced two interceptions, has come away with two pass breakups as well. His passer rating when targeted during that span is just 75.8 and he’s allowed fewer than 11.0 yards per catch in three of those four contests.
“CV is a young player, and the more he plays, it seems like the better he’s getting,” said LaFleur. “And I think he’s addressed some of the things that we wanted him to work on throughout, not only last year, but into this year, and he’s done a nice job, and certainly he’s made some plays for us, particularly in the last couple of games, and I expect him to get better.”
Also a big part of that cornerback equation is Eric Stokes, who at one point was rotating series with Valentine and has seen an increased workload as of late as well with injuries at nickel cornerback and at safety. After a bumpy start to the season, Stokes hasn’t allowed many receptions as of late, surrendering only seven on 15 targets over his last six games.
“It was just a lot of little things — just getting used to the technique, getting used to some of the other little things all over, and some of the routes and some of the things that we’re getting,” said Stokes on adjusting to Jeff Hafley’s defense. “I just had to get used to it, and now I pretty much know what type of defense we run, everybody knows, so we pretty much get hit with the same things over and over, so then you start picking up on it.”
Assisting the Packers’ Alexander-less secondary will have to be improved consistency from the pass rush. A key contributor to the massive amount of passing yards that Sam Darnold and the Vikings’ offense put up on Sunday was due to the time in the pocket he had. With or without Alexander, having to defend that group of pass-catchers for three or four seconds routinely is a tall task for really any secondary.
Awaiting the Packers in the playoffs could potentially include some combination of Detroit, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, and Philadelphia–all four of whom rank top 10 in the NFL this season in points per game as well as yards per passing attempt, generating big plays against the opposing secondary.
“They stepped up a lot,” said McKinney of Stokes and Valentine. “I think everybody’s been ready to go, been prepared and prepared the right way. No matter when their name was called, during this situation, they were always ready to go.”