The Sooner The Packers-Jaire Alexander Marriage Ends, The Better

Ron Wolf, the former Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame general manager, used to say it’s better to get rid of a player a year too early than a year too late.

Under that philosophy, the Packers should dumped cornerback Jaire Alexander many moons ago. And waiting any longer to dump Alexander would border on management malfeasance

In the last four seasons, Alexander has missed 34 of a potential 68 games. He was suspended for one game after appointing himself a captain for a 2023 game at Carolina — a contest he then bungled the coin toss call in a move that nearly cost the Packers a possession.

Alexander has been a locker room cancer. And he’s played mostly mediocre football.

All this after Alexander signed a four-year, $84 million contract in May, 2022, that gave him the largest yearly average among corners ($21M).

If anyone seemingly had a right to be irked how the last three years played out, it's the Packers themselves. Instead, when Alexander was asked to discuss his future on Monday, he issued this doozy.

“I don’t even know if I’ll be here next year,” he said.

Alexander also added: “You don’t want to hear what I’ve got to say. … I don’t have anything good to say.”

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On Tuesday, LaFleur said he still hasn’t had a one-on-one meeting with Alexander.

“No, I saw him in the team meeting,” LaFleur said. “I have not had an individual.”

After years of headaches, what’s the point?

It’s clear that a divorce needs to happen as soon as possible. And the best the Packers can hope for is to acquire a mid-to-late round draft pick for the disgruntled cornerback.

There was a time Alexander ranked among the top corners in football.

In 2018, Alexander was named to the NFL’s all-rookie team. In 2019, Alexander tied for fourth in the league with 17 passes defensed and had two interceptions.

And as recently as 2020, Pro Football Focus ranked Alexander as the No. 1 cornerback in football. He also intercepted Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady twice in the NFC Championship Game that year.

Since then, though, it’s been one injury after another for one of the NFL’s most bombastic players.

Alexander played just four games in 2021 due to a shoulder injury.

In 2023, he missed 10 games — three with a back injury, six with a shoulder injury, and a 10^th contest after he was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team.

This season, Alexander also missed 10 games due to quadricep and groin injuries, as well as a torn posterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee. Alexander last took the field on Nov. 17 against Chicago, lasted just 10 snaps due to his knee injury and was never heard from again.

Green Bay hoped to get Alexander back at some point, so it didn’t put him on the injured reserve list. Instead, LaFleur said on Jan. 1 that Alexander had undergone surgery on his knee and was “most likely” done for the season.

"It is what it is. I feel for him,” LaFleur said that day. “Obviously, he was trying to get his knee right, it wasn't getting right, and so, yeah, it's a tough deal for all of us.”

For whatever reason, the last few years have been tough on everyone in the Alexander saga.

Now, Green Bay will try selling a stock that has absolutely crashed. If the Packers can’t get anything for the unhappy cornerback, they can release him and save $6.8 million against the salary cap.

The only certainty is that the Packers can’t afford another year of uncertainty — and headaches — from Alexander.

And the sooner both sides can get to divorce court, the better things should be for everyone.