Matt LaFleur shares unexpected insight into Jaire Alexander situation, leaving Packers fans with more questions than answers

The Green Bay Packers are expected to cut or trade Jaire Alexander at some point, but the situation remains murky. The draft has now passed, and he is still a member of the Packers. In his post-draft press conference, head coach Matt LaFleur revealed that the former All-Pro cornerback participated in the first week of offseason activities with the rest of the roster.

This is curious, because the activities are voluntary. So while Alexander is a part of the roster, he wasn't forced to attend the meetings. The Packers held the first week of the offseason program virtually because of the draft in Green Bay, but the players are expected to be at Lambeau Field on Monday.

The big point for Alexander is money. He has a workout bonus attached to his presence in offseason workouts, and it's worth $700k.

"I thought it was good," LaFleur said about the first week of workouts being virtual. "It was as good as it could have been. In regards to just kind of getting them reacclimated. There's a lot going on around here with the draft, we had issues within our building that we gotta deal with temporarily, the new locker rooms being built.

The Packers didn't do much in the draft at the cornerback position, which added another point of consideration to his situation. The only CB drafted came only in the seventh round, with the addition of Tulane's Micah Robinson.

“We'll work through that, I don't have updates on Jaire. He's obviously on our roster right now,” Gutekunst had said before the draft. “We'll see how the draft goes and see where we're at at that point.”

For Jaire and the Packers, it’s the culmination of a combination of factors. Injuries are a big part of it, since Alexander missed half of the games over the past four years.

Money is, again, also a huge aspect. The cornerback is slated to make $17.5 million this season and $19.5 million next year, but none of it is guaranteed. And the Packers have certain financial constraints, with less than $26 million in projected cap space for 2026—and only 29 players under contract, even before reaching some extensions, like Zach Tom.

If the Packers cut/trade Jaire Alexander right now, there's $17.04 million in dead money, and it opens $7.593 million in cap space in 2025. But more importantly, it clears $27.018 million next year and $2.005 million in 2027.

If for any reason the Packers end up deciding to keep Jaire around this season without a contract adjustment, the cap hit it $24.636 million. And releasing him next offseason would reduce the 2026 cap savings from $27.018 million to $17.494 million.

It's ok to pay that difference for prime Jaire Alexander, for sure, but the Packers don't have the option to know that ahead of time. A decision has to be made at the latest right before Week 1, and the plan clearly doesn't include finding this out when it's too late to go in another direction.