In a way, the clock started ticking on Jaire Alexander’s time in Green Bay the moment he appointed himself a team captain prior to the Packers’ matchup with the Carolina Panthers late in the 2023 season.
In the grand scheme, it was practically nothing. Among the things that teams have had to explain away, unscheduled attendance for a coin toss barely merits a mention when there have been actual felons and worse on NFL rosters. But it was the opening salvo in what would become a multi-year consideration: how much trouble are you worth? How many headaches will we endure to keep you on the roster?
Since Alexander named himself captain that day, it’s been his availability that prompted the Packers to return to that question. Outside of that, he’s been essentially a model citizen. When he’s been on the field, he’s been excellent. It’s just that he’s rarely been on the field.
After the Carolina incident, Alexander would suit up for just nine more games in a Packers uniform, counting playoffs, and he played just 10 snaps in his final appearance. That, coupled with his minimal contributions in both 2021 and 2022, sealed his fate. ESPN’s Rob Demovsky wrote today that “sources privately expressed that the team no longer wanted to play the weekly game of whether Alexander would be healthy enough to play or would be willing to play at less than 100 percent.”
And so the book closes, not just on Alexander, but on Brian Gutekunst’s 2018 draft class, his first at the helm for the Packers. Alexander was by far his most successful pick from his first go-round; though five players from that class are still in the NFL to some extent, Alexander was the only one to earn a second contract with the Packers, making two Pro Bowls in addition to being voted second-team All-Pro twice.
Here’s how the rest of the 2018 draft class fared:
Josh Jackson - cornerback - Iowa (selected 45th overall) - A ballhawking defensive back at Iowa, Jackson lasted three underwhelming seasons with the Packers before being dealt to the Giants’ in a player for player swap that landed the Packers Isaac Yiadom. Yiadom’s sole notable contribution in Green Bay was playing poorly enough that he opened the door for Rasul Douglas to ascend quickly to a starting role. So, in a way, Josh Jackson ultimately became Rasul Douglas. Sort of. If we squint at the problem a bit.
Oren Burks - linebacker - Vanderbilt (selected 88th overall) - Burks was a terrific athlete coming out of college, but he never put it all together on the field for the Packers, though he played more than 1,000 snaps on special teams across four seasons in Green Bay. He’s gone on to big things elsewhere, though, playing in Super Bowls with the 49ers and Eagles. His tooth-rattling hit on Keisean Nixon got things started for the Eagles in their playoff victory over the Packers last season.
J’Mon Moore - wide receiver - Missouri (selected 133rd overall) - Moore was the first of Brian Gutekunst’s many attempts to try to find gold at receiver by just nabbing great height/weight/speed prospects on Day Three of the draft and in undrafted free agency. In Moore’s case, it didn’t work out. He appeared in just 12 NFL games, all with the Packers, and only caught two passes for 15 yards.
Cole Madison - offensive lineman -Washington State (selected 138th overall) - Madison’s career was derailed by off-field concerns including a long-running struggle with mental health issues. The Packers welcomed him back with open arms after he sat out his entire rookie season, but he never appeared in a game for the team after tearing an ACL in practice.
JK Scott - punter - Alabama (selected 172nd overall) - The leggy Scott got off to a great start in Green Bay, averaging 44.7 yards per punt as a rookie, but consistency doomed him, as did the Packers’ ongoing struggles with their special teams coordinator dating back to early in Matt LaFleur’s tenure. In 2021, then-coordinator Sean Mennenga inexplicably started to tinker with Scott’s mechanics and may led to his collapse in Green Bay, though he’s gone on to punt for the Jaguars and Chargers.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling - wide receiver - USF (selected 174th overall) - Valdes-Scantling has made an entire career out of doing exactly what the Packers drafted him for: running extremely fast in a straight line. MVS averaged 17.5 yards per catch across his four seasons with the Packers, though many would argue he didn’t catch nearly as many deep balls as he probably should have. Still, he was a weapon throughout his time with the Packers and went on to success elsewhere, winning two Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Equanimeous St. Brown - wide receiver -Notre Dame (selected 207th overall) - The third of Gutekunst’s height/weight/speed fliers in 2018, St. Brown’s career may have played out much differently but for one of the oddest preseason situations in memory. After a promising rookie season, St. Brown badly injured his ankle playing on a shortened, unsteady field in Canada during the 2019 preseason, robbing him of crucial development time during his second year in the NFL. He caught just 16 more passes with the Packers after hauling in 21 as a rookie and has gone on to play for the Bears and Saints.
James Looney - defensive lineman - California (selected 232nd overall) - One of three seventh round picks in 2018, Looney hung around on the Packers’ practice squad as a slightly undersized defensive end before making a brief switch to offense as an oversized tight end. He appeared in three games on defense in 2018, but didn’t record any measurable stats.
Hunter Bradley - long snapper - Mississippi State (selected 239th overall) - Here’s a strange but true fact: of the Packers’ 11 draft picks in 2018, only three players (Jaire Alexander, Oren Burks, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling) played more games in Green Bay than Hunter Bradley. Bradley, a middling long snapper, was released midway through the 2021 season, due to the Packers’ ongoing struggles with special teams that year.
Kendall Donnerson - edge rusher - Southeast Missouri State (selected 248th overall) - Only eight players were taken after Donnerson in the 2018 draft, so it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that he didn’t make much of an NFL splash. The ultimate “small school guy with crazy athletic traits” pick, Donnerson couldn’t turn his outstanding athletic abilities into an NFL job. He never appeared in a game for the Packers, but kicked around a series of NFL teams until 2021, though he never appeared in a regular season game.