The Green Bay Packers are still trying to chart their future at cornerback amid uncertainty about Jaire Alexander’s status moving into the 2025 season, but they could have a solution waiting for them in free agency — if they stay patient.
Alexander’s future is one of the biggest questions hanging over the Packers as they prep for the start of OTAs next week. The two-time Pro Bowl starter has missed 10 games in each of the past two seasons because of injuries, losing most of 2024 to a knee issue.
Alexander also cast doubt on whether he would return to the Packers in 2025 during the team’s end-of-season locker cleanout in January, declining to speak with reporters and saying — according to NBC 26’s Kelly Hallinan — that he had nothing good to say.
While Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst has left the door open for the team and Alexander to reach a resolution that would keep him in Green Bay for 2025, it has become a very real possibility that the Packers could move on from their top cornerback before the forthcoming season, which would leave a problematic hole in their lineup.
To brace for that possibility, Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton has urged the Packers to keep an eye on former Los Angeles Chargers starting cornerback Asante Samuel Jr., who remains unsigned as teams await more information on his lingering neck injury.
“The Packers can hold Alexander until they get clarity on Samuel’s medicals in the summer,” Moton wrote on May 24. “If doctors clear Samuel to play, Green Bay should sign him and trade Alexander.”
Medical Concerns Loom Large Over Asante Samuel Jr.
Nobody would blame the Packers if they decided to keep tabs on Samuel with the hope that they could explore a signing down the road if the medical concerns are alleviated. Samuel said he has a doctor’s check-up in July that could provide him with more clarity.
At the same time, Samuel’s medical concerns are quite daunting, especially for a team like the Packers that could need to replace its top cornerback in the coming months.
Samuel started 47 games on the boundary for the Chargers during his first four seasons, using his great instincts and ball skills to tally six interceptions and 37 pass deflections. He also earned coverage grades greater than 80.0 from Pro Football Focus in both 2022 and 2023, underscoring his ability to make a difference for L.A.’s defense when healthy.
In 2024, though, Samuel sustained an injury that limited him to just four games. Per ESPN, Samuel “described the injury as a stinger in both shoulders but also a condition that he has been dealing with since he was born” after the 2024 season ended. He also underwent neck surgery in April, which has effectively put his free agency on hold.
Now, perhaps Samuel will get an all-clear from the doctors in July, but any amount of ambiguity about his health could ward off interested teams, such as the Packers.
Will Packers Avoid Jaire Alexander Trade & Keep Him?
A healthy Samuel could emerge as a viable option for the Packers around training camp if they feel they need more cornerback help. They even have enough cap space to outbid other interested teams if they are determined to sign him for their defense in 2025.
If the Packers keep Alexander, though, their chances of signing a veteran nose dive.
Alexander is a high-level cornerback when he is healthy enough to play. The Packers also still have him under contract for another two seasons, though they would likely want to find a way to lower his 2025 cap hit of roughly $24.6 million if they kept him.
According to what Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported after the 2025 NFL draft, though, “there is no plan for the Packers to bring Alexander back after deciding in February they were moving on from him and then shopping him to teams.”
If nothing has changed since then, the Packers may very well still trade Alexander — or outright release him — before reaching training camp in late July, which would open the door for them to sign Samuel or another veteran corner with fewer medical red flags.
