The Green Bay Packers are expected to release cornerback Jaire Alexander today.
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The Jaire Alexander Experience is over in Green Bay.
The Packers’ gifted, quirky and oft-injured cornerback will be released today according to the NFL Network. Green Bay’s mandatory minicamp runs June 10-12, and Alexander was expected to attend.
In the last four seasons, Alexander — a first round draft pick in 2018 — missed 34 of a potential 68 games. He also couldn't finish four of the games he played in after sustaining injuries.
Alexander was also suspended for one game after appointing himself a captain for a 2023 game at Carolina — a contest in which he bungled the coin toss call in a move that nearly cost the Packers a possession.
The Packers and Alexander’s camp discussed restructuring a contract that would have paid him $17.5 million this season. When the two sides couldn't find middle ground, though, the Packers decided to release Alexander.
“We’re working together on finding the best solution for everybody,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said in March. “Obviously we’ve invested a lot into Jaire, and I 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. We’ll see where it goes, but, again, working with him weekly and we’ll try to figure out what’s best for Jaire and the Packers.”
Alexander’s last action in 2024 came on Nov. 17 and he finished the campaign on the injured reserve list with a knee injury. When Alexander was asked about his future after last season ended, he issued this doozy.
“I don’t even know if I’ll be here next year,” he said.
Alexander also added: “You don’t want to hear what I’ve got to say. … I don’t have anything good to say.”
There was a time Alexander ranked among the top corners in football.
In 2018, Alexander was named to the NFL’s all-rookie team. In 2019, Alexander tied for fourth in the league with 17 passes defensed and had two interceptions.
And as recently as 2020, Pro Football Focus ranked Alexander as the No. 1 cornerback in football. He also intercepted Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady twice in the NFC Championship Game that year.
Since then, though, it’s been one injury after another for one of the NFL’s most bombastic players.
Alexander played just four games in 2021 due to a shoulder injury.
In 2023, he missed 10 games — three with a back injury, six with a shoulder injury, and a 10th contest after he was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team.
Then in 2024, Alexander missed 10 games due to quadricep and groin injuries, as well as a torn posterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee.
“Obviously, he was trying to get his knee right, it wasn't getting right, and so, yeah, it's a tough deal for all of us,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said at the end of last season.
Without Alexander around, Green Bay’s top three cornerbacks are Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs and Carrington Valentine.