Monday signaled the end of the Jaire Alexander saga when the Green Bay Packers released the veteran cornerback. The Packers had reportedly offered a restructured deal that would’ve kept Alexander in Green Bay for the 2025 season. He opted against it and will now hit free agency.
Where does this leave Green Bay’s cornerback room?
Dating back to January, the writing seemed to be on the wall that Alexander’s time in Green Bay was drawing to a close. At his locker on clean-out day, Alexander said he had nothing to say to reporters and noted he didn’t know if he’d even be back with the Packers.
General manager Brian Gutekunst spoke to reporters a few days after the playoff loss to Philadelphia and left plenty of uncertainty about Alexander’s future with the team.
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. You know it’s tough on the player, tough on the organization.
Things heightened in March when Gutekunst specifically mentioned the possibility of trading Alexander.
We invested a lot in Jaire and 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. So we’ll see where it goes, but again, working with him weekly and trying to figure out what’s best for both Jaire and the Packers.
Well, now we know the answer, and it’s hard not to question whether or not Green Bay has top-end talent at cornerback. Either Keisean Nixon or Nate Hobbs will assume No. 1 cornerback duties. The Packers will likely feature both on the outside now, opening up slot duties to Javon Bullard.
A glance at Green Bay’s 2025 schedule reveals the alarming array of wide receivers they’ll face. In the NFC North alone, Green Bay will face Justin Jefferson, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and D.J. Moore a combined six times. All three are proven WR1s. The Packers will also see Ja’Marr Chase, CeeDee Lamb, Terry McLaurin, D.K. Metcalf, A.J. Brown, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Malik Nabers. It’s a murderer’s row.
Does Green Bay trust Nixon and Hobbs to slow down and contain that group? They have no other choice.
Behind Nixon and Hobbs are a trio of seventh-round selections. Carrington Valentine stands apart from the other two because he’s already proven to be a starting-caliber cornerback. Kalen King was a seventh-round pick out of Penn State last year and spent most of his rookie season on the practice squad. Green Bay selected Tulane’sMicah Robinson in the seventh round this April.
There’s plenty of quality within the group, but one injury could be devastating. Of course, that’s the case with many teams at many positions. Still, Green Bay’s depth takes a massive hit with Alexander out of the equation.
However, this won’t be foreign territory for the Packers.
Alexander played only seven games in each of the last two seasons, and the Packers had to plug-and-play with different combinations. At times in 2024, that meant going to former first-round pick Eric Stokes, who has since signed with the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason. Veteran Corey Ballentine is now in Indianapolis after spending the last three years with the Packers.
Signing Hobbs clearly indicated that Gutekunst and Co. weren’t expecting Alexander to be with the team this year. Still, they seemed increasingly open to working something out with Alexander to keep him around.
Suddenly, Green Bay would have an embarrassing amount of riches in the cornerback room with No. 23 back. Having Nixon and Hobbs at the second and third cornerback spots was much more appealing than having them as the top two options.
With Alexander now gone, some worry has crept in. Of course, many on social media have been quick to bring up that the Packers have dealt with the whole “life without Alexander” scenario in recent years. While true, it boils down to how much the Packers can trust Nixon and Hobbs throughout a 17-game season against many of the best wide receivers in the league.
Having Alexander back would’ve put Green Bay in a luxurious spot. Showing him the door creates a risk that can only be accurately assessed as the season progresses.
The Packers could’ve put aside a restructure and just brought Alexander back on his current deal. As Gutekunst stated in January, having Alexander back made a lot of sense for a team ready to compete for championships now.
Green Bay didn’t view it as financially worth it. The end result leaves the Packers banking on Nixon and Hobbs to take their game to another level in 2025. A position of strength with Alexander on the roster has now become a major point of uncertainty.