After months of speculation about Jaire Alexander’s status with the Green Bay Packers, Brian Gutekunst and the front office finally made the decision to move on. Just over a week after they released him, he signed a one-year deal worth up to $6 million with the Baltimore Ravens. The deal includes $4 million guaranteed and $2 million in incentives.
The fear of releasing any player of Alexander’s caliber when healthy is that they will sign with a division rival. Many former Packers, including Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams, have landed on NFC North teams.
In Alexander’s case, the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings made a lot of sense on paper. Both teams had holes at cornerback last season. While Detroit added D.J. Reed and Minnesota signed Isaiah Rogers, neither signing should’ve prevented them from pursuing Alexander.
The Packers and their fans can breathe a sigh of relief with this one.
Just before Alexander signed with the Ravens, I had just finished a (now unreleased) piece on where the Packers and their fans should want him to land. Outside of returning to Green Bay, the Ravens were at the top of that list.
Following his release, Alexander’s next team odds via Bookies were as follows:
The Ravens were the most surprising team left off the list of favorites. Between the Louisville connection with Lamar Jackson and the need for corner depth, this felt like a likely destination.
My feelings strengthened even more after Jackson said he’s spoken with Alexander and told Eric Decosta, the Ravens GM, to “go get him, Eric!” and that they did.
The relationship between Ja and Lamar will make this extremely fun. It’s also a chance for Alexander to compete in the AFC. It is a nice landing spot because Packers fans can continue to root for him.
Following the signing, a lot of interesting nuggets came out.
First, the money. A one-year deal for $6 million with only $4 guaranteed is only $1.01 million more guaranteed money than what Eric Stokes got from the Las Vegas Raiders. It’s $6 million less than Darius Slay commanded and less than what Keisean Nixon will make. Playing matters a lot to teams. Still, this is a deal I would’ve done.
After the signing, we also heard from Alexander’s dad, Landis, on Twitter, and ESPN Milwaukee and got a bit of insight on the end of Jaire’s time with Green Bay. He said the Packers offered a deal with no guaranteed money, a $4.3 million base, and up to $6 million total, similar to Baltimore’s contract, but there the base was guaranteed.
Landis also added that Alexander would’ve stayed in Green Bay, but they were insulted by the Packers offering a fully incentive-based deal. He knew he had been hurt, so he was open to renegotiating, but he also knew he was worth more guaranteed than what the Packers were offering — and he was right.
Finally, he added that he felt the contract they were offering was to set up a future trade, and he felt there was a good chance he wouldn’t play for Green Bay regardless of whether he signed the contract.
Baltimore got Alexander on a fair deal. Still, it seems like Green Bay felt they had already paid much more guaranteed money than Alexander deserved over the past few seasons and were unwilling to give more, which makes sense. Landis Alexander acknowledged that. However, they wouldn’t settle for that, knowing another team would give him guaranteed money.
With this insight, it’s much easier to understand why this didn’t work out. Green Bay was right to feel they had already paid enough guaranteed money, and Jaire Alexander and his team were right to think there was guaranteed money out there.
It was time for them to go their separate ways.
The final piece of this is that Green Bay will now faced Alexander when the Ravens come to Lambeau Field in week 17. Although they compete in different conferences, the game could be crucial for playoff seeding.
One of the biggest uncertainties on Green Bay’s roster is the quality of their receiving corps. Many players had down seasons in 2024 after promising starts to their careers. They’ve now added Matthew Golden and Savion Williams. At this point in the season, Christian Watson should have returned and will be nearly a full year removed from his torn ACL. We should have a good idea of what the room looks like at this point in the season.
On the other hand, after the addition of Alexander, the Ravens have one of the best secondaries in football. The matchup between the two groups could tell us where Green Bay and its pass catchers stand in the league heading towards the postseason.
It’ll be quite the showdown in Lambeau and one you won’t want to miss.
