Cornerback Jaire Alexander seemed on track to play against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night, until he wasn’t. On Friday, Alexander missed practice because of the knee injury he suffered more than a month ago, and head coach Matt LaFleur confirmed that he will not play for the Green Bay Packers in Week 15.
“Based on what I saw the past couple days, I didn’t feel he was ready to play,” LaFleur said. “There are certain requirements to get out there and go play, certain speeds and whatnot. When you’re not hitting them, you’re not ready to play.”
The former All-Pro cornerback has missed four of the last five games — and barely was on the field in the one he did play — because of a knee injury he suffered against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It is a PCL injury, and the Packers have always had the expectation of an in-season return for him. He was a full participant at practice on Wednesday and Thursday, but did not practice on Friday.
The main reason
Matt LaFleur has a fair reason to be cautious. Against the Chicago Bears, Alexander tried to play through the injury, but wasn’t able to finish the game and stressed the 48-man gameday roster.
“You always have a plan. We all knew this could be a possibility, whether he’s gonna play or not. I just didn’t want to have another situation like Chicago, quite frankly, where you’re there for a couple plays,” LaFleur added. “It puts a bind on other area, you put some guys in some tough spots in regards to special teams. Also, you want to get the guys that are gonna have to go play, you wanna get them the reps. That’s an important part of it.”
So far this season, Jaire Alexander has missed six of the Packers’ 13 games — on Sunday, it will be the seventh missed game because of injury in 2024. The former All-Pro cornerback has handled a groin injury earlier this season, and has handled the PCL injury since October 27.
Depth
Without Jaire Alexander and Javon Bullard, the Packers will probably have Carrington Valentine and Eric Stokes as the boundary corners, with Keisean Nixon moving inside to the slot. Evan Williams and Xavier McKinney are expected to be the deep safeties.
