The Jaire Alexander saga took a turn on Tuesday when ESPN reporter Rob Demovsky tweeted that the Green Bay Packers and their star cornerback could work on reconciling differences. The end goal is for Alexander to play for Green Bay in 2025.
Since then, many have weighed in on the topic. NFL reporter Albert Breer chimed in with an idea that makes a lot of sense.
In his post-draft NFL mailbag, Breer was asked about Alexander and how he sees the end road coming to be.
The question, to me, comes down to money. He’s due $17.5 million this year. And, because of his recent injury history, that’s shown to be a bit rich for interested teams. Alexander, meanwhile, would rather be cut so he can pick his destination, and he might not be willing to help with a contract adjustment to facilitate a trade. I would think, at this point, the most likely scenario is that he’s back on a reduced contract that has incentives.
The story has taken a complete 180 from the consensus that Alexander would either be traded or cut to now many seeing a path leading back to Green Bay.
A reduced contract with incentives would be the most logical and fair outcome. However, in the business of the NFL, not everything is always fair.
It had been previously reported that the Packers had a trade partner lined up before the draft. However, Alexander wasn’t willing to restructure his contract, so the deal fizzled out.
If Alexander wasn’t willing to restructure somewhere else, why would he in Green Bay? That’s the question that remains.
It’s possible that Alexander would prefer that Green Bay just release him. However, with free agency all but wrapped up and the Packers not using a high pick on a cornerback, it makes the most sense for them to keep Alexander in the green and gold for 2025 and find a compromise.
Breer is right that most of this comes down to money, coupled with Alexander’s injury history. Had Alexander not missed 34 of the last 68 regular-season games, the $17.5 million price tag would be of no concern to the Packers.
With the price tag being what it is, plus all the uncertainty of how many games you’ll get out of Alexander, it wasn’t surprising to see Green Bay shop the veteran cornerback around.
Now we wait and see if the Packers approach about a restructure that focuses on incentives for games played and other statistical measures, and if Alexander and his representation would be receptive to that.