Don’t get too hopeful that the Green Bay Packers’ lack of a cornerback addition on Day 1 or 2 of the draft means that All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander will be retained. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein, the draft has not changed the Packers’ decision on Alexander, a player they’re hoping to unload in a trade and will be cutting if they can’t find a trade partner.
A source familiar with the dealings between the Packers and Alexander said the Packers still were in the market to trade him and were waiting to see if a team might have interest after the draft. There is no plan for the Packers to bring Alexander back after deciding in February they were moving on and then shopping him to teams.
When asked about Alexander situation in his post-draft selection press conferences, general manager Brian Gutekunst told the media that there were “no updates” on Alexander. At the moment, Alexander is participating in voluntary team activities, which were virtual this week, but work on the field begins next week.
Next week is a different type of deadline for the Packers. First of all, Alexander is due $700,000 in offseason workout bonuses, which means that Green Bay will begin to commit money paid out for a player who they have no plan on keeping in 2025. Secondly, if Alexander gets hurt before a trade or release, he’ll make the $17.5 million cash he’s due in 2025 — the biggest hurdle of a potential Alexander trade — despite not being on the field for the Packers. Clearly, it would be in Green Bay’s best interest to avoid those situations, if they really don’t want Alexander to play on his slated contract for this season.
A potential pay cut makes sense, as it’s highly unlikely that Alexander will make that $17.5 million on the open market this offseason, but he has no interest in restructuring his deal. It was previously reported that the Packers haven’t even offered Alexander a pay cut offer, because his camp has made it clear that he won’t accept one. Per Silverstein’s reporting, a team was willing to trade for Alexander this offseason on the condition of a pay cut, something Alexander refused.
Really, what this seems to boil down to, is that Alexander wants to hand-pick his next landing spot and the Packers want to get an asset for moving Alexander — but don’t want to actually pay him that $17.5 million to be on the team in 2025. This is why we find ourselves in this deadlocked position.
Without Alexander in the lineup, the likely scenario for the Packers is that Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine will be the team’s starting outside cornerbacks in 2025, with free-agent signing Nate Hobbs playing in the slot, at least in nickel sets. As we’ve written about before, the NFL market has reacted to Hobbs’ contract with Green Bay and is treating it like it’s a deal for a slot defender, not an outside cornerback.
