No, probably not
The Green Bay Packers made some rare offseason news when it was announced on Monday that they’d be parting ways with former Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander.
So, almost like clockwork, the question gets asked “Should the New York Giants sign Jaire Alexander?”
It’s predictable that the question gets asked. After all, the Giants’ secondary has been a disappointment and John Mara wants to see the defense as a whole improve.
Alexander has been well-regarded as a cover corner, but he’s also
But while Packers’ president Mark Murphy acknowledged Alexander’s ability, calling him an “elite talent” he couldn’t ignore the corner’s injury history. Murphy said, “Unfortunately, just injured a lot. Unfortunately that’s a big part of the game.”
Saying that Alexander has been injured a lot is a bit of an understatement. He’s missed 34 games over the last four seasons, and has dealt with knee, back, groin, and shoulder injuries. Alexander missed 10 games in each of 2023 and 2024, as well as 13 games in 2021.
He had a 5-interception season in 2022, but that was quite a while ago at this point.
The Giants have built a very young secondary that has the potential to not just be good, but legitimately elite. Depth might yet be a bit of an issue — even with adding Paulson Adebo and Jevon Holland — but Alexander won’t be signing with anyone to be a depth player. He still has those two Pro Bowls on his resume and will want a starting job — and the accompanying pay check.
The Giants currently have the second-lowest amount of cap space at $3.822 million per OverTheCap. They’ll already have to make some kind of move to create cap space for the season. Pursuing and signing Alexander doesn’t make sense from an economic perspective. The Giants also know that the future of their secondary lies in developing their young talent.
Cor’Dale Flott, Tae Banks, and Dru Phillips all have the potential to improve significantly this year. But they’ll need practice and snaps to reach their respective ceilings. Adding Alexander would take those valuable snaps away from them and delay (if not derail) their development.
And frankly, the Packers are a competently run team in pursuit of a division and conference championship. If they’re parting with a player, it’s fair to ask why they no longer feel it makes sense for him to be on their roster.
