When the Green Bay Packers host the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football next week, there will be a familiar face wearing midnight green and white on the visitor’s sideline.
On Saturday afternoon, the Eagles acquired cornerback Jaire Alexander from the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for a swap of late-round draft picks. Philadelphia sends a 6th-round pick in 2026 to the Ravens, who are sending a 2027 7th-rounder back along with Alexander.
Alexander, of course, was a first-round pick by the Green
Bay Packers in the 2018 NFL Draft and was a Packer up until the team released him this past June. In fact, Alexander was the first player that general manager Brian Gutekunst selected after taking over the job from Ted Thompson earlier that offseason. In his seven seasons with the Packers, Alexander recorded 12 interceptions and 37 pass defenses while earning a pair of 2nd-team All-Pro honors.
However, Alexander’s last four years in Green Bay were marred with injuries. as he played only 34 of a possible 68 regular-season games in that span, including back-to-back years with just 7 games played in 2023 and 2024. His unreliability was a large part of the reason why the Packers elected to release him this offseason after the two sides failed to come to an agreement on a reduced salary for 2025.
Alexander then signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Ravens a few days later. However, he has been a frequent healthy scratch for Baltimore, suiting up for only two games this season and logging only 61 snaps on defense.
Meanwhile, the Eagles have struggled mightily to find a quality cornerback to start on the boundary opposite second-year pro Quinyon Mitchell, cycling through the likes of Adoree Jackson and Kelee Ringo at times this season, though Jackson missed last Sunday’s game due to a concussion. Alexander gives the Eagles another veteran presence in the secondary, though the extent that he will contribute will remain to be seen over the coming weeks.
Because the Eagles are on a bye this weekend, Alexander’s first opportunity to suit up in an Eagles uniform will come against the Packers next Monday night. That should add a bit of additional intrigue to a game that has plenty of it, with this being the teams’ first meeting since Philadelphia defeated Green Bay in the Wild Card round of the 2024 playoffs in January.
