Green Bay Packers Announce Shocking Decision On The Future Of Jaire Alexander

 

The Green Bay Packers gave cornerback Jaire Alexander a four-year extension in 2022, making him the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history. Right away, he made it worth it with an All-Pro season. In 2023, though, the situation got murkier.

With several injuries (back, shoulder, ankle) and a team-imposed suspension for conduct detrimental to the Packers, Alexander played only seven games in the regular season and the two postseason contests. To finish up a strange season, Alexander made a cryptic post on Instagram.

It’s difficult to know for sure what it meant. It may have been just an end-of-season post, or it might indicate a desire to move on. Either way, the relationship between Alexander and the Packers seems to be in a much better place than it was before the suspension in week 17.

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur addressed the Jaire Alexander situation at the end of the season and sounded optimistic.

“I thought he did an outstanding job,” LaFleur said when asked how Alexander had responded to the suspension. “Sometimes, whether it’s in football or in life, you go through some hardship and you are better for it. Ja can sit here and tell you, we had a great conversation a minute ago. As tough as that was on everybody here, I just think our level of communication will be so much clearer and consistent. There’s a lot of good that actually ended up coming out of that.”

For the last month, there has been speculation the Packers would part ways with Alexander in the offseason via trade or release.

But in a piece from The Athletic on Jan. 3, Packers writer Matt Schneidman said that wasn’t likely in the plans.

Matt LaFleur said last week that he thinks Jaire Alexander will be a Packer for a long time. I believe him. The only way they move on from him this offseason, in my opinion, is if the suspension doesn’t change anything. The Packers hope it was a wake-up call for Alexander to get in line. If he continues acting out, then maybe they start shopping him. But the leash is a lot longer for players of his caliber, especially given his contract status. Moving on from Alexander, a 26-year-old with two years left on his deal, would leave the Packers with a $27 million dead money charge and cost them more than $3 million in cap space.

Green Bay Packers Make Official Announcement On Future Of Jaire Alexander

In an end-of-season press conference on Thursday, Packers general manager Brian Gunekunst made it abundantly clear Alexander is in the team’s plans moving forward and they aren’t considering a trade.

“Brian Gutekunst says there’s no consideration to trading Jaire Alexander this offseason. He was pleased with how Alexander returned from suspension, expects him to be pillar of #Packers defense moving forward.” Green Bay reporter Ryan Wood tweeted. 

This makes perfect sense for a variety of reasons.

Jaire Alexander is still a high-level player. Over the last four years, he has been a Second-Team All-Pro in two and has been injured in the other two. It means that when healthy, the cornerback is still an elite player — and you could see over the final stretches of the season how impactful he was, and how the defense got worse without him.

There’s also a contract issue. Alexander is signed through 2026, and a trade would actually make the Green Bay Packers lose cap space in 2024. If he stays with the Packers, his cap hit is slated to be $23.98 million — and the parties might restructure it to lower the number. If Alexander is traded, he leaves behind $27.456 million in dead money — and to aggravate it, the Packers wouldn’t have the option to apply a post-June 1st designation, a tool limited to releases, and not for trades.