Breaking: Packers Poised to Break the Bank for Jaire Alexander and Not to Let Him Walk
There are no easy offseasons in the NFL. For the Green Bay Packers, however, when it comes to tough decisions about whether to keep, cut or restructure veterans with high-priced contracts, while also re-signing their own free agents, this one should not be overly taxing.
When it comes to re-signing any of the Packers’ 11 impending unrestricted free agents, the closest thing general manager Brian Gutekunst has to a must is kicker Brandon McManus, whose midseason addition stabilized a position that had been in flux since they moved on from Mason Crosby after the 2022 season.
The rest — from center Josh Myers to defensive contributors, such as tackle T.J. Slaton and linebackers Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson — could be considered luxuries.
And then there’s cornerback Jaire Alexander, the two-time All-Pro, who would make $17.5 million if he’s on the team next season.
Here’s a look at the key decisions Gutekunst must make early in this offseason. They fit into four categories: let go/release, re-sign cheap, possibly re-sign at the right price, and must re-sign.
Let go/release
There are strong indications that Alexander’s time with the Packers will end without him playing another down. Multiple team sources have privately expressed their frustration with Alexander’s inability to stay healthy and/or play through injuries.
For the second straight season, Alexander appeared in seven of 17 regular-season games. He did not play after Nov. 17 — despite practicing on a semi-regular basis — went on injured reserve the final week of the season and underwent knee surgery on what he said was a torn PCL. Still, he finished second on the team in pass breakups (seven) and tied for second in interceptions (two).
The 2018 first-round pick has two years remaining on the four-year, $84 million contract extension that made him the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL at the time. The Packers would pick up nearly $6.8 million in salary cap space for 2025 if they release him (or more than $17 million if they designate him a post-June 1 cut).
Publicly, Gutekunst was noncommittal about Alexander’s future shortly after the season.
“I know it’s been really, really frustrating for not only him as a player, but us as a club,” Gutekunst said. “When you have a player who’s done what he’s done for us in the past, and then not being able to get him out on the field consistently, that’s tough. You know it’s tough on the player, tough on the organization.”
Alexander declined to speak with reporters on the last day of availability at the end of the season, saying he had “nothing good to say” and that he did not know if he would be back with the team in 2025.
On the same day, Keisean Nixon was lobbying to be the No. 1 cornerback, a job Alexander held when available.
Fellow first-round cornerback Eric Stokes also could be looking for work elsewhere. He hasn’t returned to the form he had during his rookie season, following multiple injury-filled seasons. He had 14 pass breakups and an interception as a rookie in 2021. In three seasons since then, he played 1,175 snaps over 29 games without a single pass breakup or interception.
Veteran offensive tackle Andre Dillard was signed last offseason to a one-year, $1.25 million contract and played only 13 offensive snaps.
It’s unclear whether running back AJ Dillon, who missed all of last season because of a neck injury, has been cleared to return, but the Packers liked what they got from Chris Brooks and Emanuel Wilson as backups to Josh Jacobs. They also have high hopes for 2024 third-round pick MarShawn Lloyd, who played only 10 offensive snaps as a rookie.
