The Packers signed one of their stars to a massive extension earlier this offseason with Aaron Rodgers. They have done so again with cornerback Jaire Alexander. The team is extending him on a four-year, $84MM contract (Twitter link via ESPN’s Adam Schefter). 
As Schefter notes, the deal includes a $30MM signing bonus, which is a record for corners and will allow him to earn $31MM in 2022. Overall, the annual average of $21MM per year represents another high-mark at the position, and makes him the third CB to eclipse the $20MM-per-season plateau (along with Jalen Ramsey and Denzel Ward).
While those numbers are high, only Alexander’s signing bonus is guaranteed. Among cornerbacks, Alexander agreed to deal that slots him only 12th in terms of fully guaranteed money. That said, the Pro Bowl cornerback should be expected to be with the Packers for a while. His 2025 and ’26 base salaries, per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, jump to $16.2MM and $18.2MM, respectively. Alexander’s deal also includes an $8MM roster bonus in 2024. This transaction continues the Packers’ pattern of not guaranteeing any money to a non-quarterback beyond the first year, Florio adds, noting only they and the Bengals still use this old-school method.
A first round pick in 2018, Alexander has been an immediate starter and anchor of the team’s secondary since his arrival. He was named a Pro Bowler for the first time in 2020, leading to increased optimism for this past season. The 25-year-old was limited to just four regular season games due to a shoulder injury, however. With the team having picked up his fifth-year option, it was already a guarantee he would be suiting up for Green Bay for at least the 2022 campaign.
The two sides began negotiations on a long-term extension this offseason, one which saw plenty of other notable moves being made by the team to try and stay competitive while remaining cap compliant. It came out not long after free agency began that the Louisville product was seeking a deal which would place him at the top of the CB market. This news confirms that he has accomplished that goal.
Schefter adds that Alexander’s cap number will be lowered in 2022 by virtue of his base salary being valued at just over $1MM. That will help the Packers absorb another record-breaking contract as they try to extend their Super Bowl window. Alexander will remain with the team through 2026 at the head of a secondary also featuring the likes of Eric Stokes, Rasul Douglas, Darnell Savage and Adrian Amos.
I hope GB did a better job on the medicals with him than the Brewers did with Yelich before his mega extension.
First of all Yelich is still quite underpaid for the contract they gave him at the time. Second he broke his kneecap after he signed. And that caused other problems. Been healthy this year. Stupid comment from you
1 of us definitely made a stupid comment, but since I’m quite sure the kneecap happened the season before the extension (plus the KNOWN back issues, and having I believe 2 years left on his then current deal..) it was kinda foolish to hand that out when they did.
He has hit under .240 since signing that deal. He has grossly underperformed under that contract there is no getting around that.
The money being thrown around is unbelievable these days. This is just to play a game. How long will regular folks put up with and support pro sports like this? Most people will be lucky to save a million over their entire lifetime.
You’re forgetting how much money that game generates and it’s because of the players. Also you can just stop being a fan and following the sport if you take that much of an issue with the contracts.
Wait til you see how much owners make on teams just because, in most cases, they were born rich. The players actually work and sacrifice and compete.
Yes but we as fans pay the cost. Ticket prices are sky high and cable bills/Sunday ticket costs increase substantially every year. We generate the money. Fans.
Players’ salaries don’t drive up prices fans pay. The league and its teams juice all the money they can out of everything and players as a group are guaranteed a minimum percentage of that.
Fans do and have driven up the prices. At Lambeau Field or County Stadium, and many other blue collar city/stadiums, these sports were an opportunity for middle class people to get away from their work lives and watch/attend something fun. Those fans with season tickets really built the leagues into what they were able to become about 20 years ago. Now, the earning power necessary to be a fan is leaving those middle class folks behind. The growth is unsustainable. It’s just a matter of time.
So what is a person allowed to do with the money they have. Is the gas station owner only allowed to make X amount of dollars? I don’t side with the sports owners and I am not against the players getting paid a lot. If you are born rich what do you suggest to be done with that? Squander it?
I’m not saying any of that (though I do think there are ways for many ultra-wealthy people to behave more ethically, like paying/treating their workers better and donating more money). My point was just that it’s silly to point ire toward players for making a cut of the extremely lucrative industry in which they are both worker and product. Player salaries aren’t what makes the game expensive for fans.
@kripes-brewers
Yet you’re apparently okay with billionaire owners receiving billions in taxpayer dollars that pay for stadiums, and infrastructure along with years of tax breaks. Plus those billionaire owners profit when selling those taxpayer-paid for stadiums!
Let me guess? They’re “job creators.” lol
No, it’s more of a comment about where the fans’ ability to spend to remain a fan will end. None of these sports or owners can exist without people paying. They’re all trying to push their sports into other countries so they can continue to grow, but really the US is about tapped out. Upper middle class and wealthier are supporting teams with season tickets and attending, while the rest watch from a distance or attend a game or two. I just wonder how long the growth can sustain these sports. Maybe that’s why betting has so quickly gone mainstream from being frowned upon for so many years.
Regular folks can no longer afford a game ticket, thus it is clear they no longer matter.
When most people start caring? I certainly don’t, that’s for sure.
I thought the packers were in cap hell and would have to let everybody go this year???
Not everybody, just Davante and Zadarius.
Actually, just Z. Reports are they had a deal equal to or slightly better than what Adams ended up getting from LV. His choice was to go there, and GB did him a solid.
Of course, had they kept him (and Adams wanted to stay, etc etc) other dominoes would have had to fall for this deal and others to fit, but they didn’t just dump Adams or let him walk because of the salary cap.
Moral to the story…
Rarely believe anything sports writers/talkers, you know the “experts”, ever say.
Some “experts” predicted the Bears would be North champs last year and the Pack would finish 3rd or 4th.
If they can get Jenkins next they will be in excellent shape for years to come with or without Rodgers.
Green Bay does a great job with drafting
CB’s are about $5m under the WR’s they are covering. Time to bump them up to the $25m range.