So who takes the loss in a situation like this?
Jaire Alexander, who only played in 14 games in the last two years, wasn’t willing to restructure his contract. But it’s clear that Alexander meant something to this team. With Alexander wearing green and gold, the Packers were 10-4 and they were just 10-10 without him.
This is going to sound crazy, but when healthy, Alexander would have potentially been the Packers best defensive player. He takes away one side of the field. Who is going to shut down Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson or Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown?
From the Packers perspective, they weren’t willing to pay top dollar to someone that was only playing part-time. The 28-year-old Alexander had a cap hit of $24.6 million in 2025. That’s why the Packers were hoping he would take a pay cut. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
The next thought was a potential trade, but other teams also knew that they could just wait this out. They knew the Packers weren’t going to pay him that much money after underplaying his contract for the last two seasons.
If Alexander really wanted to come back to Green Bay, he takes a contract restructure that gives him some incentives for being on the field. The problem is, I don’t think he really wanted to come back. He earned a one-game suspension in 2023 for going into the coin toss uninvited and nearly screwed up the winning flip decision.
“I absolutely am confident that the relationship between me and Jaire 100 percent will be better for this,” said Packers coach Matt LaFleur after the incident. “I really believe it. We had a great conversation this morning and I’m looking forward to having him back as part of this football team, and being a big part of it moving forward.”
I don’t think the wounds were fully healed after this. The Packers and Alexander said the right things, but nothing seemed like his Pro Bowl season of 2022 when he had five picks.
The reason why this is tough for the Packers is because they are getting nothing in return. Just releasing him means the Lions or Vikings could easily scoop him up.
But I think Alexander is in for a rude awakening. The restructure that the Packers wanted him to take is going to be a similar contract he signs with another team. No team will be willing to give him over $20 million a year, but they will give him a heavy incentive-laden deal that forces him to be on the field.
And that’s another issue here as well. The Packers knew that Alexander wasn’t 100 percent last year from Week 12 on but he was still able to play. When you get into that portion of the schedule, nobody is 100 percent anymore. You have to realize that.
“I don’t have an idea of when I’ll feel well enough to play, but I know that I need ‘more than 21 days of non-contact.’” Alexander said this past November.
The Packers are in win-now mode, but picked the wrong time to not have their best cover corner. But this is also a testament to who is currently on the roster. Maybe Keisean Nixon has taken a step, even though he looked dazed and confused at times last year. Or maybe Nate Hobbs can be that guy, even though he has only picked off three passes in his previous four years with the Raiders.
Ultimately, the losers in this are the other players. This move just put Lukas Van Ness on notice. It puts Devonte Wyatt on notice and it puts the entire offense on notice. If teams are able to chuck it deep more often now, the offense will have to keep pace.
This was a move the Packers had to make because Alexander was being unreasonable, but in the end, the losers are his ex teammates.