A few roster questions loom for the Green Bay Packers this offseason, but perhaps none is more pressing than the pending decision on cornerback Jaire Alexander.
When he’s on the field, he’s great. The problem is the former All-Pro corner has missed 34 of the last 68 regular season games.
With his Packers future in doubt, it’s no surprise that ESPN’s Field Yates has Green Bay drafting Alexander’s potential replacement in the first round.
As things sit, the Packers have the No. 23 selection in the upcoming draft, which will take place in Green Bay.
In his recent mock draft, Yates has Green Bay going the way of Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston.
The Packers have to look at their cornerback room this offseason. … Hairston sat out some time because of a shoulder injury this past season, but he led the SEC with five interceptions in 2023 — two of which were returned for touchdowns. He’s a playmaking ball magnet who is going to fly in the 40-yard dash at the combine.
What’s most fascinating about Yates’ analysis is that he mentions Hairston as a potential partner with Alexander in the cornerback room.
With or without Alexander back in the mix, corner is an area of need for Green Bay. In Alexander’s absence, they elevated Keisean Nixon to the top spot in the pecking order, and Carrington Valentine nabbed the No. 2 corner spot with Eric Stokes‘ diminishing play.
General manager Brian Gutekunst was noncommittal in his end-of-year presser about Alexander, noting that Green Bay “could” afford to bring him back.
We certainly can (keep Alexander). I know it’s been really, really frustrating, not only for him as a player but for us as a club, when you have a player who has done what he’s done for us in the past, and then not being able to get him on the field consistently, that’s tough on the player, tough on the organization. We’re at the beginning stages of gathering information, as a whole, before we start looking at next year. We could.
It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Financially, yes, the Packers could afford Alexander. However, if they part ways with the former first-round selection, Green Bay would have a dead cap hit of $18 million but would save a shade less than $7 million in cap space on what is set to be a $25 million year for Alexander.
Hairston, or several corners projected to go early, would be a welcome sight for the Packers. The red flag for Hairston is the shoulder injury that not only cost him time in 2024 but also hindered his play upon return to the field, with an uptick in missed tackles going on his resume.
If Alexander’s availability weren’t a question, there’d be no dilemma about him returning to Green Bay for the 2025 season. Drafting someone like Hairston, who has a notable and significant injury, could cause Gutekunst and the Packers to be hesitant about him.
Whether Alexander is back in the fold or not, it would be surprising if Green Bay didn’t address the corner spot in the draft, free agency, or a combination of the two.
While Yates suggests a pairing of Alexander and Hairston, the consensus at the moment when taking the pulse of the fanbase leans towards a belief that the Packers will part ways with its boisterous corner. Yates likes Hairston as a fit, and even if it’s not Hairston, Green Bay going corner in Round 1 would surprise nobody.
