Packers Could Part Ways With CB Jaire Alexander.
Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander may have just one more game with Green Bay. The two-time Pro Bowler has been suspended for the club’s Week 17 game against the Vikings, and while he is slated to return for the regular season finale, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com makes it apparent that Alexander may not be in the Packers’ long-term plans.
According to Schefter, Green Bay’s decision on whether to retain Alexander will rely on the $8MM roster bonus that he is due on March 20. If the team decides to retain Alexander in the fold, it will simply pay out the incentive and go on. However, Schefter reports that the Packers could investigate a trade or even a release before the bonus comes due.
Alexander signed a four-year, $84MM extension in May 2022, a deal that made him the highest-paid corner in NFL history in terms of average yearly value (albeit his $30MM in full guarantees only placed 12th among his CB peers). The Louisville product did nothing to make the organization regret its decision in the first year of his new contract, as he won his second Pro Bowl nod, intercepted a career-best five passes, and got a superb 80.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus in 2022.
Unfortunately, 2023 has not been as kind to Alexander. He has missed nine games due to injuries this season, and in his comeback after a six-game layoff last week, he surprisingly joined the designated captains for the coin toss — despite not being nominated as a captain — and cried out “tails.” Though he won the toss, he made a major miscalculation by claiming that the Packers wished to open the game on defense, which is not the same as deferring to the second half. In other words, the Panthers nearly started both halves with the ball, and would have done so if head coach Matt LaFleur had not expressed his intentions to referee Alex Kemp prior to the game, and if Kemp had not confirmed Alexander’s decision.
Alexander also expressed no remorse for the error, instead hinting that it was “only suiting” for him to join the captains since the game was in Charlotte and since he is a Charlotte native (a fact that he assumed LaFleur was unaware of). Schefter adds that the Packers, who prefer their players to participate in their offseason program in Green Bay, do not appreciate the fact that Alexander does not do so; indeed, Alexander forfeited a $700K workout incentive in the spring so that he could train in Florida instead.
Despite that, Dianna Russini of The Athletic (subscription needed) hears that Alexander is not regarded a “problem child” within the organization. Although the injuries are a problem — Alexander also missed all but four games of the 2021 campaign — his ability, age (he will turn 27 in February) and the fact that a trade or release would produce a substantial dead money penalty would appear to signal that he will be back in Green Bay in 2024. However, Russini, like Schefter, believes that a parting of the ways is a serious possibility.
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