Can the Green Bay Packers Repair Relations with Jaire Alexander?

The offseason saga of Jaire Alexander and the Green Bay Packers took another turn earlier this week when ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reported there remains a chance the former Pro Bowl cornerback could remain in Green Bay. The door remains open for Alexander’s return, despite the differences the cornerback and the team had since the end of last season. But what will it take to keep Alexander a Packer next season? And will the team and the player be able to reach an understanding?

Can the Packers Repair Relations with Jaire Alexander: His Career So Far   

The Packers selected Alexander with their first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. In fact, the Louisville alum was the first player ever drafted by GM Brian Gutekunst.

Alexander started 11 games as a rookie and made an immediate impact on the Green Bay defense. He quickly became the team’s best cover corner and the player they relied on to cover the opposing team’s best receivers.

By 2020, his third season in the league, Alexander earned Pro Bowl honors for the first time in his career. He earned them again in 2022 when he intercepted a career-high five passes.

The Road to a Standoff

But since then, Alexander has struggled to stay on the field. Over the last two seasons, he played seven games each year due to assorted injuries.

There was also an incident in 2023 when Alexander unilaterally declared himself a team captain in a game in Carolina and almost blew the coin toss for the Packers. He was suspended one game for conduct detrimental to the team.

Throughout the entire seven seasons Alexander was in Green Bay, he was the best cover corner on the team when he was on the field. The issue was keeping him healthy and able to play.

After the 2024 season ended, Alexander made comments that made many people expect that his time in Green Bay may be over.

Gutekunst also indicated that the Packers may be open to trading their star cornerback. The NFL Draft came and went, and no team was willing to offer the Packers enough for the team to make a deal for Alexander.

Can the Packers Repair Relations with Jaire Alexander: Where We Stand Now

As of right now, Alexander will have a cap hit of a little more than $24.6 million this season according to overthecap.com. That is too much for the Packers when Alexander played just 14 of a possible 34 regular season games over the last two seasons and hasn’t played more than seven games in three of the last four years.

Thus far, according to numerous reports, the Packers have asked Alexander to take a pay cut and restructure his contract and Alexander has refused.

Keep in mind at no point has Alexander publicly demanded a trade or said to the media he was unhappy in Green Bay. But the question remains whether the Packers and Alexander can get on the same page.

The Options

Three realistic options remain on the table. The Packers can find a trade partner for their star cornerback, ideally before training camp. They can release him outright or they can reach an agreement to keep him in Green Bay.

The key to keeping him will be mostly economics. The Packers don’t need to free up cap space this year by releasing Alexander. They can easily keep him on the books for 2025 and not have any cap difficulties.

However, if Alexander and his agent think they can get more money if the Packers release him and he becomes a free agent, they will be less willing to agree to a pay cut to stay in Green Bay.

If the market for Alexander as a free agent is less lucrative than a negotiated pay cut with the Packers, however, it makes sense for the player to agree to restructuring his contract. That way Jaire will make more money than he would if he left Green Bay. In addition, the Packers won’t be taking as big a risk by paying a lot of money to a player that has been on the field often enough to justify that salary.

The next few weeks will be telling. As of now, it still looks more likely that the Packers would prefer to move on from Alexander. But the chances of him staying in Green Bay seem to be increasing with each passing day.

One thing is certain. The Packers secondary is stronger right now with Alexander on the roster.