Head coach Matt LaFleur finally gave us some info on Monday
Despite regularly practicing as a full participant, Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander was inactive for yet another game on Sunday. Since injuring his knee in October, Alexander has only played 10 snaps — all of which came against the Chicago Bears.
The injury has been reported as a PCL issue, though, no surgery has been reported. At one point, head coach Matt LaFleur admitted that they shut down Alexander for a Friday practice because the speeds he hit during the practice week (via player tracking data) weren’t up to the Packers’ standards. Outside of that, though, we’ve heard few details about what’s really going on with Alexander, opening the door to wild speculation.
On Monday, though, LaFleur dropped a new nugget.
LaFleur admitted that a core issue with Alexander’s recovery is the swelling to his knee, as the coach said that Alexander “doesn’t feel right to go out there and play.” The head coach also said that he wasn’t sure if Alexander would be back this season.
Considering that Alexander could have been placed on the injured reserve and returned already, it’s safe to say that the Packers didn’t anticipate that the injury would be a week-to-week question mark for this long of a period. Whether they misevaluated the injury on the front end or it’s just the nature of this specific injury is still up for speculation.
After years of swelling issues derailing the Packers’ plans at left tackle following David Bakhtiari’s knee injury, though, the term “swelling” is probably going to stir up some emotions. Hopefully, the former All-Pro cornerback can make a full recovery while still in a Green Bay uniform. The last thing the Packers and Packers fans want to see is Alexander playing only 34 games over the last four seasons — about every other game — only for him to return to form without another squad in 2025.