The Green Bay Packers will release Jaire Alexander after being unable to find common ground on a restructured contract with the former Pro Bowl cornerback.
Alexander was due a base salary of $16.15 million for this season and $18.15 million for next season. Guaranteed money in the restructure was the sticking point, according to a source.
While the relationship with the team had soured because of his extensive injury history, the players in the locker room said they wanted Alexander to return.
“I love 2-3 to death,” cornerback Keisean Nixon said last week. “That’s my boy. If he comes back and he’s here, we’d love to have him. I love to play with Jaire. That’s just what it is since I’ve been here. Jaire pushed me to be really who I am because it’s always friendly competition between me and him.
“Whatever happens, happens. We don’t have control over that. If he’s here, we’re going to rock out. If he’s not, we’re still going to rock out. That’s just how it goes.”
Because the Packers released Alexander, they will not receive a compensatory draft pick in 2026, regardless of the size of the contract he signs in free agency.
After missing the second half of the season with a knee injury that ultimately was fixed via surgery, Alexander, who turned 28 in February, is healthy again and looking forward to getting his career back on track.
Alexander was one of the premier corners in the NFL when the Packers gave him a four-year, $84 million contract extension in 2022. He rewarded the Packers with a second-team All-Pro performance for the second time with a career-high five interceptions. Of 86 cornerbacks to play at least 300 coverage snaps, Alexander ranked fifth in passer rating allowed, according to Pro Football Focus.
However, Alexander missed 10 of 17 games in 2023 and again in 2024.
When Alexander played, he was tremendous. He just didn’t play enough.
“Yeah, I think we’ll work through that,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said at the end of the season. “I know it’s been really, really frustrating for not only him as a player, but us as a club. When you have a player who’s done what he’s done for us in the past, and then not being able to get him out on the field consistently, that’s tough. Obviously, when he’s healthy and he’s ready to play, he’s a pretty good player.”
The problem, of course, is he was rarely on the field. Over the last two seasons, Alexander played zero games against the Detroit Lions and one game against the Minnesota Vikings. In 2024, his 10-snap cameo against Chicago represented the totality of his action against the NFC North.
The decision to move on without Alexander seemed apparent for several months. A day after a season-ending loss to the Eagles, Alexander turned down an interview request by saying, “I don’t have anything good to say.” Meanwhile, Nixon talked about “want(ing) to be CB1.”
Alexander suffered a torn PCL on the final snap of the Week 8 game at Jacksonville. After sitting out the next game – a big home game against the Lions – and then getting the bye, Alexander suited up for a game at the Bears. He made it through 10 plays before shutting it down.
He never played another game, even though he practiced frequently for most of the rest of the season. Finally, he opted for season-ending surgery.
Gutekunst said it was not a mistake for Alexander to play against Chicago.
If it wasn’t, then why didn’t he play the rest of the season?
“I think he had a little bit of a setback in the game,” Gutekunst told a group of local beat reporters at the Scouting Combine, “but it was one of those things where, at some point, you have to go out there and see if you can go, and he gave us 10 plays.
“It was frustrating because it was one of those things where every time he kind of 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. But, yeah, it was disappointing.”
The Packers got to the playoffs, anyway, with Nixon and Carrington Valentine emerging as the perimeter cornerbacks. They will play big roles in 2025, as will free-agent addition Nate Hobbs, though Hobbs has an injury history, as well.
Not only is Alexander no longer with the team but former first-round pick Eric Stokes signed a free-agent contract with the Raiders and backups Corey Ballentine and Robert Rochell left in free agency. That’s four cornerbacks out the door and only one big addition.
According to Sports Info Solutions, Alexander has allowed a career completion rate of 51.7 percent, including below 50 percent in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2024, when it was 47.6 percent. In 2024, for sake of comparison, SIS charged Valentine with 63.2 percent and Nixon with 60.9 percent.
Alexander and Nixon tied for the team lead among cornerbacks with seven passes defensed last season. Alexander played 659 fewer snaps than Nixon.
“Obviously, he’s been here a long time. He’s been an elite player for a number of years,” Gutekunst said of Alexander at the Scouting Combine. “I think the past few years have been very frustrating for him and, certainly, for us, too, just because you want players like that on the field consistently.
“And, when you can’t be because of injuries, that’s a tough thing. As a player, I know he’s doing everything he can to be out there but, yeah, I think the last few years haven’t been where we wanted to be only because of injury but, obviously, very, very talented player.”
