Jaire Alexander officially signed with the Baltimore Ravens just nine days after being released by the Green Bay Packers. The Ravens broke the news by posting a video of Alexander reuniting with his good friend and former college teammate, Lamar Jackson. The deal is reportedly a 1 year contract worth $4 million. Alexander can earn up to $6 million in incentives.
Brian Gutekunst and the Packers decided to release Alexander on June 9, 2025, after two rollercoaster years between the Packers and him. For those looking for a more detailed recap of everything that went down between the two parties, take a look at the deep dive put together by Andy Herman of Packer Report. Long story short, Alexander has struggled to stay healthy over the last few seasons. Rather than paying him the $17 million they were scheduled to pay him, Green Bay elected to release him. This decision has led many to question whether the Packers fumbled this situation.
Why the Packers Moved On
The two-time All-Pro cornerback was always a net positive when he was healthy and on the field. In what was a shaky 2024 season, Alexander still produced a PFF grade of 75.2 (25th amongst all cornerbacks). Alexander is the only Packers’ cornerback to be named to an All-Pro team since Charles Woodson in 2010. There is no denying his talent when he was on the field.
Green Bay chose to move on because of his inability to stay on the field. Since 2021, Alexander has played more than seven games in a season only once. He played only 4 games in 2021, seven games in 2023, and seven games in 2024. Alexander dealt with a series of injuries, including injuries to his shoulder and knee. If a player can’t stay on the field, why would the team keep investing in him?
Alexander also caused a few issues off the field, which likely caused them to lose patience. Most notably, Alexander made himself a team captain and sent himself out for the coin toss against the Carolina Panthers. Additionally, Alexander concluded the 2024 locker room availability by stating he has “nothing good to say.” Not exactly what the team leaders wanted to see from their star cornerback.
Sorting Through the Packers’ Efforts
Before the 2022 season, Gutekunst gave Alexander a four-year, $84 million contract extension. Unfortunately, that contract didn’t pan out the way the Packers anticipated. After two injury-riddled seasons, Green Bay attempted to move Alexander via trade, and reportedly even had a deal in place. Since Jaire was unwilling to restructure his contract, Green Bay was unable to seal the deal.
After the possibility of a trade fell through, the Packers reportedly were working with Alexander on a reworked contract that would potentially keep him on the roster for the 2025 season. The details of the negotiations are unknown, but it seemed at that point that the Packers would rather keep Alexander on the roster than release him outright and get nothing in return for him. That ended up not being the case.
The Packers’ Final Offer
It’s unknown exactly what was offered to Alexander as a revised contract. It can be assumed they lowered his base salary and added incentives that allowed him to earn some of the money back through incentives as long as he stayed healthy. Alexander’s father, Landis Alexander, later shared some details about these negotiations. Most notably, when asked if his son would have taken a pay cut to stay in Green Bay, Landis Alexander stated, “Yes.”
In a series of posts on X Wednesday afternoon, Alexander’s father went on to share more details about the Packers’ final offer. He wrote, “They (the Packers) insulted him by giving him no guaranteed money. It was $4.3 million, but all incentive-based, with more game incentives to take him to $6 million. The way it was structured looked like they (the Packers) were setting it up for a more attractive trade.”
It had also been reported that Alexander was unwilling to take a pay cut. That was evidently not true either. His father elaborated by sharing, “It was never about refusing to take a pay cut or thinking he is worth more. He knows he’s worth more, but he also knows he’s been hurt. If we are being honest, it was them (the Packers) that didn’t really want him.”
At face value, it seems that the Packers did offer Alexander something similar to what he got in Baltimore. The biggest difference was in guarantees versus incentives. A player of Alexander’s caliber was never going to accept a deal with next-to-no money guaranteed, regardless of how much he loved being in Green Bay. The statements by his father would indicate that the Packers were not negotiating with any real intention that Alexander would remain on the team.
An Unpopular Decision
The news of Alexander signing with a new team for such a small amount of money has not been easy on Packers fans. At the time of his release, fans seemed content with Alexander no longer being in Green Bay. Now that the details of his new contract have been released, many are confused as to why the Packers didn’t offer Alexander the same thing.
Could Green Bay have offered to restructure his base salary down to anywhere between $8-$10 million? Sure, but Alexander’s father claims that that was far from the truth. It was also reported that Alexander turned down more money to sign with the Ravens, which would indicate he wanted to be in Baltimore. It’s a hard pill for many fans to swallow seeing their once beloved star cornerback sign for peanuts with another team.
Just over a year ago, the Packers were working through a similar situation with star, but oft-injured running back Aaron Jones. The Packers wanted Jones to revise his contract and take a pay cut; he wanted to be paid appropriately. The Packers ultimately chose to release Jones, and he signed a much less lucrative deal with the Minnesota Vikings for 1 year, $7 million. Jones rewarded the Vikings by playing all 17 games and rushing for over 1,000 yards. The Packers were able to replace Jones with Josh Jacobs, so no real harm was done.
From the Ravens’ perspective, signing Alexander seemed like a no-brainer. $4 million for a potential All-Pro player? Any GM in their right mind would make that move. That said, it’s fair that the Packers no longer wanted to deal with the uncertainty of a player who struggled to stay on the field regardless of the money. It’s also fair if Alexander was ready to move on after the team tried to trade him and asked him for a pay cut. While it might be an unpopular decision, it seemed to be time to move on for both parties.
Only Time Will Tell
While Green Bay might not have offered Alexander the fairest of contract restructures, Alexander had very little incentive to accept any restructure with Green. He knew he was due a large sum of money, or the team would release him. A release would allow him to sign with any team he wanted. This left the Packers with two options: keep Alexander and pay him the $17 million owed or release him. They chose the latter.
Whether it be off-season workouts with teammates or reaching out to welcome the new draft picks, it seemed Alexander was still committed to being a Green Bay Packer. His father also shared, “He absolutely wanted to be in Green Bay.” But Alexander also knew his worth and was not going to play without any guarantees. The Packers loved having prime Alexander on the field. But they were not going to guarantee money to a player who was sidelined too often. Both sides can be true.
Now that the Packers and Alexander parted ways, it’s fair to wonder if moving on from Alexander was the right decision. The Packers were seemingly done waiting for a formerly elite player to return to his peak form. The Ravens saw an opportunity to sign a potentially elite player to a low-cost contract. It is reasonable to argue that the Packers should have offered Alexander a similar deal. As far as fans know, maybe they did. It seems that moving on was best for the Packers and Alexander, but only time will tell what the Packers should have done.
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