Three Days Before Draft, No Update on Jaire Alexander’s Future with Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – With the start of the NFL Draft looming on Thursday, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst had “no updates” on cornerback Jaire Alexander’s future with the team.

Gutekunst during his predraft news conference on Monday said he’s continuing to “work through” a resolution with Alexander, the two-time second-team All-Pro who has played in only 34 of a possible 68 regular-season games the past four seasons. He played only 10 snaps in six NFC North games in 2024.

Will the Packers keep Alexander for another season? Will they trade him before the draft starts on Thursday? At some point during the draft? Release him because a trade can’t be found?

“He’s obviously on our roster right now. We’ll see how the draft goes and then see where we are at that point,” Gutekunst said.

Alexander, who has missed double-digits games three of the past four seasons, got a noteworthy vote of support this week.

"Ja, he’s got his own world going on. I'm going to let him handle his own business and see what's going on,” quarterback Jordan Love said on Up and Adams on Thursday. “But that’s my guy right there. He’s definitely a player we need back. Just the play style he plays with, who he is on the field, that’s a guy we need to have around. So, we’ll see what happens.”

After missing most of the 2021 season with shoulder injury, Alexander signed a four-year, $84 million contract extension in May 2022. By annual salary, he was the highest-paid cornerback NFL history.

He rewarded the Packers with a career-high five interceptions to earn second-team All-Pro for the second time in three seasons. However, injuries and a suspension limited him to seven games in 2023, and he played in seven games again in 2024. Combined, he played less than 37 percent of the defensive snaps in those seasons.

When he plays, he’s excellent. In 2024, Alexander gave up a completion rate of 47.6 percent, according to Sports Info Solutions. The primary corners without him last year were Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine, who allowed 60.9 percent and 63.2 percent, respectively. Among the team’s cornerbacks, Alexander and Nixon tied for No. 1 with seven passes defensed. Nixon played 1,020 snaps while Alexander played 361.

However, he suffered a knee injury during the final defensive snap of the midseason win at Jacksonville. He was inactive the following week against the Lions and got another week off with the bye. The next week, he returned to action and played 10 snaps against the Bears before exiting for the rest of the game.

While he practiced frequently, he didn’t play the rest of the season. Ultimately, he opted for season-ending surgery.

At the Scouting Combine, Gutekunst said it wasn’t a mistake to play Alexander against the Bears.

“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,” he said. “Every time he 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.”

When the season ended, Alexander’s eventual departure seemed nothing but a matter of time. As players packed their belongings a day after the season-ending loss to the Eagles, Alexander said he had “nothing good to say” in turning down an interview request. Nixon openly called himself the team’s “CB1.”

A few days later, Gutekunst called it “really, really frustrating” that Alexander had missed so much time.

However, at the owners meetings in March, Gutekunst kept the door open for Alexander’s return. Or, he was trying to speak a trade into existence. The potential for a trade exists if a cornerback-needy team doesn’t get an impact player in the first few rounds.

“We invested a lot in Jaire and want to make sure, if he's not going to be on our football team helping us win games, that we get something back for that investment,” Gutekunst said last month. “So, we'll see where it goes but, again, working with him [agent John Thornton] weekly and trying to figure out what’s best for both Jaire and the Packers.”

Then, early this month. All-Pro Packers safety Xavier McKinney posted a video of him and Alexander working out.

Alexander is due a $16.15 million base salary in 2025 and $18.15 million base salary in 2026, his final two seasons under contract. His cap number for the upcoming season is about $24.64 million; moving on would create an additional $7.59 million of cap space.

The Packers made one big move at cornerback this offseason by signing Nate Hobbs to a four-year, $48 million contract. Hobbs according to SIS allowed a 42.9 percent completion rate in 2024 but has his own injury history with 15 missed games the past three seasons.

Many of the cornerbacks in this year’s draft class have recent injury histories, as well. In 2024, Michigan’s Will Johnson played in six games, Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston played in seven, Notre Dame’s Benjamin Morrison played in six and East Carolina’s Shavon Revel played in three.

In seven seasons with the Packers, Alexander has been selected to two Pro Bowls. He has 12 career interceptions and four seasons of more than 10 passes defensed. However, he’s started 12-plus games in only three seasons.

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