NFL Trade Rumors
It took nearly the whole offseason, but the saga between the Packers and CB Jaire Alexander finally ended like most expected it to — with the veteran corner getting his walking papers. The Packers tried to trade Alexander but other teams didn’t want to take on his full $17.5 million salary either, effectively giving Alexander a no-trade clause if he refused to rework his deal. He nixed at least one offer, one that would have sent him to the Bills, by declining a pay cut.
For a little bit, it looked like the Alexander and the Packers would be able to work out a compromise, with Alexander staying in Green Bay in exchange for reducing his salary to a more palatable number. It would have helped the Packers, too, as they’re especially shallow at corner without Alexander. In the end, those talks fell through as well, and Alexander will become an unrestricted free agent, able to pick his next destination.
That freedom was clearly worth a lot to Alexander. It’s hard to say definitively without knowing the financial particulars of either Buffalo or Green Bay’s offers whether Alexander made the right decision. But it’s easier to say Alexander won’t break the bank when he signs his next contract. He’s played just 14 games over the past two seasons and has missed significant time in three of the past four. He remains a starting-caliber corner when he’s on the field, but with that injury history at 28 years old, there just is not going to be an appetite from teams to fork over eight figures.
That’s not to say Alexander won’t have a market. There are too many teams that need help at cornerback, and now that he’s available, we have him ranked as our top available player in our Top 100 Free Agents list — higher than fellow CB Asante Samuel Jr. and WR Amari Cooper. But there’s a case to be made that his best path to having a strong 2025 season and cashing in as a free agent in 2026 was staying in Green Bay, where he knows the system and his teammates.
The fact that he didn’t is probably an indicator that Alexander was equally as ready as the Packers for a fresh start.
Alexander, 28, is the former 18th overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Packers. He was entering the fourth year of a four-year, $12.050 million rookie deal that included a $6.844 million signing bonus before Green Bay picked up his option.
Alexander was set to make a fully guaranteed base salary of $13.294 million in 2022 under the fifth-year option when the Packers signed him to a four-year, $84 million extension.
He was scheduled to make base salaries of $16.15 million and $18.15 million in the final two years of that deal when the Packers released him in June.
In 2024, Alexander appeared in seven games for the Packers and made seven starts, recording 16 tackles, a fumble recovery, two interceptions,...
