1 Packers player who could be surprise roster cut in 2025 offseason

You never want to have to cut a player loose, even at the NFL level. The Green Bay Packers have never been afraid to be a shrewd organization as it relates to letting go of players if they no longer make sense for the football operations side or simply just the business side of things, but one would have to imagine it’s even hard for them to hand someone a pink slip as well.

Thanks to the unprecedented access to NFL front offices that a show like Hard Knocks has given us over the years, we know these cuts are hard for everyone. Usually, fringe roster players who don’t have a chance to make the team are let go in the preseason. Sometimes, though, big names are also cut loose—and salary cap ramifications are primarily the reason.

Sometimes a player has simply just run his course with a team. A change of scenery could work to the benefit of everyone involved. These kinds of things happen, again, the Packers have never been afraid to make the move for one reason or another.

Heck, they’ve traded both Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. Last offseason they released star running back and fan favorite Aaron Jones, as well. You know this is an organization that thinks with its head and not with its heart.

The Packers are in a pretty decent cap situation heading into the 2025 offseason with roughly $42.1 million to play with. But they do have several of their own players they’re going to want to re-sign. Moreover, General Manager Brian Gutekunst’s “urgency mandate” from earlier this offseason suggests the Packers could spend some money to bring in more players via free agency or trade.

Names like Davante Adams and Maxx Crosby are among potential options floating around. And there’s a strong case the Packers should get in the Myles Garrett sweepstakes. Meanwhile, as mentioned, players like center Josh Myers, kicker Brandon McManus, and linebacker Eric Wilson are all candidates to be re-signed this offseason.

What that means is that $42 million can dwindle quickly, so Gutekunst may look to make a cut or two to try to save some cash.

Speaking of all these factors — saving cash and a player no longer being a good fit — there is one surprising player who does fit the bill on both accounts, and that would be star cornerback Jaire Alexander.

The Packers could cut Jaire Alexander this offseason

It was a tough year for Alexander, who has the potential to be an All-Pro cornerback and lock-down player when he’s healthy. That was his issue in 2024, though, and in fact, his lack of ability has been his only downfall as a Packer.

In the last four seasons, Alexander has played in only 34 of a possible 68 games. He played in 16 during the 2022 season after he got his contract extension. However, he has only played in 14 regular season games since then. That’s due to injury, but it’s worth noting that he missed one in 2023 due to a team suspension because he inexplicably appointed himself a team captain before the coin toss.

This past season, he played in less than one-third of the Packers’ defensive snaps due to injury.

If it was just these past two seasons that were a problem, perhaps Gutekunst could hand-wave the injury issue away. After all, Alexander is a two-time Pro Bowler and All-Pro when he’s on the field. The issues go far past 2024, though. He played in just four games in 2021 after he injured his shoulder while making a tackle.

It’s been an issue, and compounding that issue for the Packers is that Alexander is getting good money to not play, and things are going to get even tougher for Green Bay money wise moving forward. Alexander has two years left on his deal. He will make $16.1 million in 2025 and $18.1 million in 2026 on this current deal.

The Packers backloaded his contract, which is not abnormal, but now they’re looking at paying a severely injury-prone player roughly $34 million in base salary over the next two seasons. That’s not even to mention the weird vibe between the two parties.

Alexander declined to speak to the media at locker clean out, saying that he wasn’t even sure if he’d be with the Packers in 2025. Gutekunst addressed that in his own end-of-season comments, but even he admitted that there was frustration there.

This once-promising relationship could quickly head toward a divorce. Throw in the fact that the Packers can save $17 million on the 2025 salary cap by designating Alexander as a post-June 1 release, and it seems very likely that Alexander has played his last snaps in green and gold.