GREEN BAY, Wis. — Two straight injury-filled seasons ultimately spelled the end for Jaire Alexander with the Packers, who released the star cornerback Monday to end an offseason saga in which the two sides tried to find a middle ground.
“In his seven seasons with the Packers, Jaire established himself as one of the premier players in the NFL at one of the game’s most challenging positions. His contributions to our organization were felt on the field, in the locker room and in our community, and he will be missed,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said in a statement. “We appreciate all he gave and we wish him all the best moving forward.”
Alexander had planned to report for the Packers’ mandatory minicamp starting Tuesday after skipping all of the in-person, voluntary workouts this offseason.
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Alexander appeared in just seven regular-season games each of the past two seasons and did not play after Nov. 17 last year — despite practicing on a semi-regular basis. He went on injured reserve the final week of the season and had 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).
That came a year after shoulder and knee injuries plus a one-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team limited him to seven games.
“The reality is for the last four years for Jaire, it’s about half of the games he’s been able to play,” Packers president Mark Murphy told WBAY-TV earlier Monday. “So we kind of have been used to it.”
The 2018 first-round pick had 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 will pick up more than $17 million in salary cap space for this season.
Alexander, an All-Pro in 2020 and 2022, played in just 34 of a possible 68 games since the start of the 2021 season — a year in which he appeared in only four regular-season games because of a shoulder injury.
Shortly after the 2024 season ended, sources privately expressed that the team no longer wanted to play the weekly game of whether Alexander would be healthy enough to play or would be willing to play at less than 100 percent.
“I know it’s been really, really frustrating for not only him as a player, but us as a club,” Gutekunst said shortly after last season. “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.”
Gutekunst also said during the offseason that he would be open to trading Alexander.
After the draft came and went without a trade, the Packers considered keeping Alexander, but only if he would be willing to rework his contract. The Packers went so far as to offer Alexander a revised deal in recent days, a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, but the two sides could not reach an agreement.
Alexander was scheduled to make $17.5 million this season, but none of that was guaranteed.
He seemed to know the end was coming immediately after the season, when on locker cleanout day he declined to speak with reporters, saying that he had “nothing good to say” and that he did not know if he would be back in 2025.
In seven seasons, including playoffs, Alexander recorded 15 interceptions.
