It wasn’t all that long ago that the Packers were in a nightmarish cap situation.
Fast forward four months and Green Bay has the NFL’s highest-paid quarterback *AND* cornerback
Jaire Alexander joins the elites of securing the bag with this deal:
Packers and Pro-Bowl CB Jaire Alexander are finalizing a 4-year, $84 million contract extension, per source. Deal includes $31 million in 2022 – a DB record of $30 million in signing bonus. Alexander will receive $42.5M by March. @JohnThornton of @RocNationSports confirmed deal.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 16, 2022
Whoa, Nelly! Now, this is an extension. This deal pays an average of $21 million per year, which surpasses the $20.1M AAV on Denzel Ward’s extension with the Browns. The $84 million total value puts him comfortably in the top-10 at the position, as only seven cornerbacks have contracts that have as much as $80 million in total value. But mostly, the thing that floors me is that Alexander gets a whopping $31 million THIS YEAR. Alexander was set to have a $13.294 million base salary in 2022, per OverTheCap.com’s calculations. He’ll be making $31 million as part of this extension. Good work by his agents. And it is well deserved, too.
Alexander is one of the league’s premier corners. A shoulder injury cut his 2021 season short, but he was coming off a 2020 campaign in which he was a Pro Bowler who also earned second-team All-Pro honors. He has five interceptions in 48 games and is a real thorn-in-the-side of quarterbacks and receivers alike. In other words, you better get used to Alexander trying to be a menace when Justin Fields and Darnell Mooney line up on offense. Because Alexander is going nowhere.