It won’t feel like it did seeing Aaron Rodgers face the Green Bay Packers just two weeks ago. It will pale in comparison to Brett Favre donning the Minnesota purple and coming back to Lambeau Field.
Maybe some of that is due to the nature of both those other guys being quarterbacks. But mostly it’s because the shine has really worn off with Jaire Alexander.
For quite a few reasons, Alexander returning to face his former team for the first time in a stadium he called home for seven years won’t even be the game’s top headline.
The legend Kay Adams tweeted on Monday, asking how best to describe the matchup between Alexander and the Packers. The results were telling.
jaire v the packers is
— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) November 3, 2025
“Yawn.”
“Not a storyline.”
“Not a big deal.”
“Nothing.”
“The 432nd biggest story going into this matchup.”
The consensus — at least on X — is in line with what many Packers fans are thinking. Alexander returning to play against Green Bay is just not much of a story. At the very least, it’s not the main story.
Why is that?
For one, the Philadelphia Eagles come to town as the reigning Super Bowl Champions and also the team that ended Green Bay’s season a year ago. The Eagles weren’t perfect, but they were more than good enough to eliminate the Packers in the Wild Card round after starting the campaign by defeating Green Bay in Brazil.
Monday night isn’t a must-win game for either team, but it will be a massive confidence booster for whoever comes out on top. Furthermore, it could impact the playoff picture and the control of the coveted No. 1 seed that comes with the NFC’s only bye.
Secondly, most on the Green and Gold side are looking inward at this team rather than pondering the return of an old friend turned foe.
How does a team that just two weeks ago boat-raced Rodgers and the Steelers in the second half then come out the following Sunday and look drastically worse in a loss to the Carolina Panthers, who were nearly two-touchdown underdogs? How does a team that manhandled the Detroit Lions in Week 1 be the same group that two weeks later shot themselves in the foot several times in a head-scratching loss to the Cleveland Browns?
If there’s one thing the Packers have shown this year, it’s that their best is good enough to beat anyone and their worst is bad enough to lose to anyone.
Five years ago, a Jaire Alexander vs. Packers showdown would have come with a lot more hype.
When Alexander was at the peak of his powers, he played the cornerback position at an All-Pro level. The thought of that version of Alexander going up against Love and the Packers would provide a jolt of energy, and perhaps even some sour feelings.
That isn’t the Alexander coming to town.
Alexander was a healthy scratch the last three weeks in Baltimore before they sent him to the Eagles for a sixth-round pick. Even with trading Alexander away for the sixth, the Ravens also had to include a 2027 seventh-rounder. It’s not exactly what you would call a blockbuster deal.
It’s not entirely impossible that, assuming Alexander takes the field on Monday night, he’s able to muster up the kind of standout performance Packers fans saw so many times in his seven years with the franchise. It’s just wildly unlikely. And, even if that did happen, there’s no buildup to it like there was with Favre or Rodgers’ games against the Packers.
The writing was on the wall all offseason. Once Brian Gutekunst said that Jaire was “on our roster for now,” it was a foregone conclusion that his time in Green Bay was up. It didn’t end with an All-Pro selection. It didn’t end with Alexander leaving on terrible terms. It ended the way many other recent seasons with Alexander had: with him injured and on the sideline, without a helmet or shoulder pads.
All of these factors combine to make his return to Green Bay this week a minor story. Add in the fact that this is a big-time NFC showdown for a Packers team hoping to reassure their doubters after a loss to the Panthers, and it’s easy to see how the Alexander storyline gets lost in the weeds.