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Jaire Alexander Reveals When He Knew It Was Over Between Him and Green Bay Packers
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- Jaire Alexander Reveals When He Knew It Was Over Between Him and Green Bay Packers
(© Bob Donnan-Imagn Images)
The 2025 season was rough for Jaire Alexander , the former star cornerback for the Green Bay Packers .
He had been released by the Packers earlier that offseason and was picked up by the Baltimore Ravens on a one-year, $4 million contract.
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That's a small contract for a former All-Pro cornerback, but Alexander was desperate to prove that he still had something left in the tank. He was coming off knee surgery and despite having second-team All-Pro seasons in 2020 and 2022, the Packers were under the impression that his time in a premier cornerback in the NFL was over.
That's why they ultimately let him go. They just straight-up released him. Their former first-round draft pick from the 2018 NFL Draft.
Alexander was still on the team right up until June 9 of 2025, but he knew something was up between him and the Packers when they wouldn't send him an iPad early in the offseason so he could watch film.
He described that moment in a heartfelt piece in The Players' Tribune. Here's what he wrote:
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"I was coming off knee surgery on New Year's Eve and having to miss the playoff game because of that injury. So I'm in recovery mode, and a few weeks into the new year I call up the Packers like, "Hey, can you guys send over an iPad so I can start watching film and get a jump on next season?" It's something that happens constantly in our league. Teams load up iPads with tons of film and give them to guys so they can study. But in this case, after my surgery, it was this situation where … they just kept delaying things with that iPad. I didn't understand. I'd ask about it, and it'd be like: "Oh yeah, right. The iPad. Yeah, yeah, we'll get that over to you. For sure." But then nothing would arrive. And so … I just kept asking.
The Packers never got Alexander that iPad, and he slowly started getting the picture. They then got in touch with him about a potential pay cut, but the two sides could never reach an agreement on that.
It's not that he didn't understand. He knew he was making a lot of money at the time and he was coming off that injury. Alexander even wrote that he was comfortable taking less money in order to prove himself.
With that said, he and the Packers were at an impasse and he then had to come to grips with the reality that the place he had called home for seven years was no longer going to be his home.
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After a few weeks, I kinda got the hint. Like, Hmmmm maybe the Packers don't really want me around anymore.
So now, all of a sudden, I'm needing to think about maybe playing for another team — something I'd never really considered in the past," Alexander wrote. "I'd always thought of myself as a Packer for life, had always wanted to end my career in Green Bay . And yeah, I understand that the NFL is a business. I get that. But at the same time, just being honest here … it wasn't easy for me coming to grips with that possibility. With the idea of potentially not being a Packer anymore."
Nov 5, 2023; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander (23) signs autographs for fans after their game against the Los Angeles Rams at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark Hoffman-Imagn Images.
The Packers have famously been ruthless with their homegrown veterans over the years. Heck, this is a franchise that drafted a replacement for Brett Favre and then traded him to the New York Jets . They then replaced his replacement, Aaron Rodgers , with Jordan Love and traded Rodgers away to the Jets.
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That's just how the Packers have done business over the years. There's not a ton of sentimentality when it comes to the business side of football.
It has rubbed former players the wrong way, but it's hard to deny that the Packers' mindset hasn't worked out for them. They'd rather move on too early than too late, and multiple star players they've moved on from could never recapture their old form.
That's been true for everyone from Favre to Rodgers. From Jordy Nelson to Clay Matthews .
Alexander was just the latest in a long line of players to prove the Packers right.
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He played in just two games for the Ravens in 2025 as he battled his knee, which never got better. The Ravens then traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles , but he never played a snap for Philly. He stepped away from football the night before the Eagles travelled to play the Packers in Green Bay.
Now, Alexander is on the journey of healing -- both physically and mentally.
"People still sometimes ask me if I'm ever gonna come back and play. And, you know what … I'll never say never — I still work out, and the knee's fine now, so I'm in good shape. But for me, right now, the most important thing really is just to be in a good place overall. To be happy," he wrote.
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