There's still a path for Jaire Alexander to be on the Packers in 2025, and while unlikely, it's technically far from impossible

Why it could happen

The Packers were in a difficult position in regards to Jaire Alexander. While there were no guarantees left on his deal, the salary of any player with four or more accrued seasons in the NFL becomes fully guaranteed for the season if he's on the roster by Week 1. Considering the risk of injury, especially in Alexander's case, it didn't make sense to allow Jaire to be at the team's mandatory minicamp or training camp without a contract resolution.

Green Bay made an offer, but Jaire's side thought it was too low and without enough guaranteed money on it. Alexander didn't want to take a paycut to be traded either, so a deal with the Buffalo Bills fell through.

Now, though, there is no contract to base negotiations out of. If the cornerback goes to the open market and doesn't get what he thought he could, and maybe the Packers decide to slightly increase the original offer to show new signs of good faith, a new deal could be reasonable for everyone.

It certainly would have to include a low base salary and be incentive-heavy, but that's probably what Jaire will get from anyone anyway.

Why it's not impossible

As aforementioned, the 49ers did a similar thing with Juszczyk for no obvious reasons — the old contract had dead money, so the cap savings weren't high enough to justify any type of risk. During his week without a deal, Juszczyk even visited the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Packers themselves have had some examples of releasing and then signing the player back. A recent case was long snapper Matthew Orzech in 2023. He was released on August 29 and re-signed two days later, so the Packers could keep a player who would later be moved to the injured reserve without exposing a younger player to the waiver system. Obviously not apples-to-apples because the circumstances were different, but things change fast in the NFL.

Why it's unlikely

Even though it's viable and technically possible for the Packers to re-sign Jaire Alexander, it's clearly difficult for everything to happen. First, because both sides had negotiations before the release throughout the offseason and couldn't get anything done.

Second, because general manager Brian Gutekunst is not a big fan of bringing players back after he makes a decision. A rare exception is Randall Cobb, because the reasons why the Packers traded for him are well-known — and it was Aaron Rodgers. Additionally, Gutekunst himself has already said that the team tried to invest in Alexander's health, and it didn't work.

The last point is that, even though Alexander hasn't signed yet, there's a reasonable argument to make that he has a robust market out there. It's unclear how much money he will make, but several teams could see him being a good bet. And if that's the case, it's unlikely that his price will be low to a point where going back to the Packers becomes the best scenario.

Ultimately, it's a tough proposition. But crazier things have happened in the league.