Matt LaFleur didn’t see enough out of Jaire Alexander in practice this week to activate him for the game
Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander, who has only played 10 snaps since the end of October, isn’t ready to play, according to Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. Despite being a full participant in the Packers’ Wednesday and Thursday practices this week, Green Bay didn’t see what they needed out of Alexander to be comfortable with him returning to the field against the Seattle Seahawks.
LaFleur stated several times that Alexander being held out of practice on Friday and being ruled out against the Seahawks on Sunday wasn’t a disciplinary action and wasn’t a setback to his PCL injury. Mind you, Alexander hurt his PCL at the end of the Jacksonville Jaguars game on October 27th and played against the Chicago Bears on November 17th, but he was unable to finish that match and dropped out after 10 snaps. Since then, Alexander hasn’t been activated for a game.
The head coach cited Alexander’s speed numbers in practice, which the Packers have access to via tracking data, as one metric that led to them making the ultimate decision. He said that he didn’t want a repeat of the Bears game, where Green Bay apparently rushed Alexander back too quickly only for him to injure himself again.
Without Alexander and slot defender Javon Bullard, the Packers will likely start Eric Stokes and Carrington Valentine as outside cornerbacks against the Seahawks with Keisean Nixon — who has been starting as an outside cornerback — in the slot. That’s the lineup they played at the end of their game against the Detroit Lions last week following Bullard dropping out of action.