The Packers tried to find a middle ground with Jaire Alexander on his contract, and they reportedly had pre-draft trade talks with the Bills, per Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports.
Alexander had no interest in a pay cut, and on Monday, the day before the team’s mandatory minicamp begins, the Packers bid Alexander farewell.
The Packers made Alexander’s release official, though it likely won’t be processed on the NFL’s transaction wire until Tuesday.
“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,” General Manager Brian Gutekunst said in a statement. “His contributions to our organization were felt on the field, in the locker room and in our community, and he will be missed. We appreciate all he gave and we wish him all the best moving forward.”
Alexander was scheduled to make a base salary of $16.15 million this season, and the Packers will gain $17 million of cap space with his post-June 1 release. The remaining $10 million of his cap obligation will go on the team’s 2026 cap.
He played only 14 regular-season games the past two seasons combined. In 2023, shoulder and knee injuries, along with a one-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team, limited Alexander to seven games. Last season, it was a knee injury that resulted in surgery on his PCL, costing him 10 games.
Alexander played less than 32 percent of the Packers’ defensive snaps in three of the past four seasons, and he has missed 38 games in his seven-year career.
He showed up for the first week of the voluntary offseason program but then decided to forego the $700,000 workout bonus and train on his own.
Alexander made All-Pro in 2020 and 2022, which led to the Packers signing him to a four-year, $84 million contract extension that made him the highest-paid cornerback in the league at the time. Injuries, though, finally forced the Packers to do what they did Monday.
Alexander now is set to become a free agent.
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