Jaire Alexander's possible return highlights how Packers can shift strategy on the fly
The Packers don't always know how the future will unfold, and Jaire Alexander's continued presence on the roster serves as the latest reminder.
Good morning!
More than two weeks have passed since the 2025 NFL Draft. During that time, the Green Bay Packers made some noise. They have signed most of their rookie class and hosted minicamp, adding free-agent linebacker Isaiah Simmons along the way. However, the biggest move left on the board for the team has yet to transpire.
Today's edition of The Leap discusses the impending decision and the right lens through which to view it.
Thank you for reading and supporting our coverage. You can also support our work by following us on social media:
Jason B. Hirschhorn: @by_JBH on Twitter / @byjbh@bsky.social on Bluesky / @by_jbh on Threads
Peter Bukowski: @Peter_Bukowski on Twitter / @peterbukowski@bsky.social on Bluesky / @peter_bukowski on Threads
The Leap: @TheLeapGB on Twitter / @theleap.bsky.social on Bluesky / The Leap's YouTube channel
If you appreciate thoughtful, independent coverage of the Packers and NFL, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support allows us to serve this community with the stories and reporting it deserves.
As always, thanks for making The Leap a part of your day.
Potential for Jaire Alexander's return highlights how the Packers can and will shift their team-building plans on the fly
Jason B. Hirschhorn: More often than not, the personnel decisions the Packers make -- and that includes opting not to pursue an available player -- get contextualized a certain way. The team didn't actually want him. The front office always wanted to make that move. This was never part of the plan.
In some instances, that assumption has a basis in truth. For example, the Packers foreshadowed the departure of longtime left tackle David Bakhtiari following 2023. Bakhtiari had missed 38 regular-season games over the preceding three years, including all but the opener during his final run in Green Bay. During his season-closing press conference, general manager Brian Gutekunst essentially laid out his reasons for parting ways with the All-Pro offensive lineman, even if he didn't outright declare that Bakhtiari wouldn't return.
"We're still at the very beginning stages of looking at how we're going to move forward with all that," Gutekunst said of Bakhtiari. "Obviously, David's been through a really rough stretch with the injuries stuff. He's going through a really major surgery, trying to get back to be able to play. We're monitoring that. I know he's working his tail off. Once we get down the road and see where he's at health wise, we'll kind of make those decisions."
As Gutekunst hinted, Bakhtiari would not return for the 2024 season. The Packers released him in March, ending an 11-year run in Green Bay for the star left tackle. Bakhtiari did not sign with another team that offseason and, after a year out of football, seems unlikely to resume his NFL career.
But while cases like Bakhtiari's lend credence to the idea that the Packers always have a thought-out, multi-step plan for personnel, not every situation fits neatly into that category. During that same offseason and, in fact, during that same season-closing press conference, Gutekunst also commented on another veteran with an uncertain future: running back Aaron Jones.
"Yeah, absolutely, I think we'd love to have Aaron back," Gutekunst said. "We're still kind of putting all those things together as far as how we're going to move forward, but I mean he was such a difference-maker when he was out there this year."
Jones had just come off a season in which he missed seven games and played limited snaps in several others due to injuries. However, the running back produced 653 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns over the Packers' final five games, including the playoffs. Between that late-season surge, Gutekunst's comments, and Jones' stature, it seemed all but guaranteed that he would return for another year.
That, of course, didn't come to pass. The Packers discussed a reworked deal with Jones' representatives before free agency and couldn't come to an agreement. Meanwhile, 2023 NFL rushing leader Josh Jacobs hit the open market and, in Green Bay's estimation, seemed like a better bet for a somewhat-similar amount of money. The team ultimately signed Jacobs and released Jones, a pivot that seemed unthinkable just a month earlier.
The Jacobs-Jones swap underscores the problem with treating every Packers decision as a fait accompli. Even if they long intended to make many and perhaps most of the moves that show up on the transaction wire, that doesn't necessarily mean each of them came from a vision that the front office committed to months in advance. This type of retconning happens frequently, and The Leap can't claim to have never fallen prey to it.
This informs the current situation facing the Packers and Jaire Alexander. For most of the offseason, the team signaled its intention to move on from the star cornerback. When pressed for updates, Gutekunst mostly sidestepped the matter, saying, "He's on our roster right now." The team also didn't sit on its hands during free agency, signing corner Nate Hobbs to a multiyear deal to ostensibly backfill for Alexander's eventual departure.
The reporting around the matter did nothing to dispel that belief. Before the 2025 draft, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that Green Bay "had trade conversations" regarding Alexander and, for the "right price," would consider a deal. ESPN's Rob Demovsky stated that, with "99.5% certainty," the cornerback had played his final game for the franchise. Fox Sports' Jordan Schultz likewise reported that "most executives believe the Packers will ultimately release him."
However, with the draft now in the rearview mirror and Alexander still on the roster, the expectation has shifted. Now, it seems at least as likely as not that he will remain in Green Bay, perhaps on a restructured deal. Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer intimated as much in a recent mailbag column. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler painted a similar picture just a few days ago, and his colleague, Peter Schrager, described the Packers' relationship with Alexander as "in a good place."
All of which undercuts the notion that the Packers always have a concrete plan for a particular player or position. If Gutekunst felt all along that the team would find a way to retain its best cornerback, he would have expressed Alexander's status differently than he did over multiple months. Rather, it seems that the way the draft unfolded and the lack of a compelling trade offer for Alexander shifted the way that Green Bay wants to move forward with Alexander.
And that's OK. No team can accurately predict the future, but the most-successful ones do their best to adjust to the changing football landscape. The Packers had valid motivation for dangling Alexander in trade talks earlier in the offseason. Now, with the trade market for a veteran corner extremely limited and little free-agent money left for Alexander, a reconciliation seems more palatable for all parties involved.
But if that indeed comes to pass, don't pretend the Packers always intended for such a result.