Packers 3 Week Window to Activate Jaire Alexander from IR Begins
By Paul Bretl
On Monday, Matt LaFleur was asked if the Green Bay Packers would be getting Za’Darius Smith, David Bakhtiari, or Jaire Alexander back at practice this week. In short, LaFleur replied with “potentially.”
We’ve since learned from LaFleur that Smith and Bakhtiari won’t be back on the practice field just yet for the Green Bay Packers, but Alexander will.
Now, LaFleur’s exact verbiage was that he will get “some” work on Wednesday and mostly in individual drills. So while you shouldn’t expect to see him on the field Sunday night, by any means, this is good news, nonetheless.
Alexander has been on IR since the Green Bay Packers Week 4 matchup with Pittsburgh. He would injure the AC joint in his shoulder and instead of undergoing surgery, which would have very likely ended his season, the team decided to wait and see how the injury healed naturally—and apparently, that’s going well.
With Alexander back at practice, even in a limited fashion, it opens the three week window that the Green Bay Packers have to activate him off IR and place him back on the 53-man roster. If he is not activated by the 21 day deadline, he will then have to be placed on season-ending IR.
Despite not having the All-Pro Alexander for much of the season, this Packers secondary has actually held up quite well. We’ve seen the emergence of Eric Stokes during that span, elevated play from Kevin King and Chandon Sullivan, while Brian Gutekunst found a real diamond in the rough with the signing of Rasul Douglas.
Also deserving of some recognition is Joe Barry’s defense. By playing with lightboxes, which means more help against the pass, and utilizing a cover-2 shell with safety help over the top, it provides these cornerbacks with some additional assistance.
During a three game stretch that featured Kyler Murray, Patrick Mahomes, and Russell Wilson, we saw the Green Bay secondary and defense hold those quarterbacks to only 601 total passing yards with just one touchdown and four interceptions.
According to Team Rankings, the Green Bay Packers are allowing only 6.2 yards per pass this season, which ranks as the fifth-fewest, and also the ninth-fewest passing yards per game with 219.2.
Once Alexander is back in the mix, the Packers will have some decisions to make, including who starts on the boundary—Alexander and Stokes? Or does Green Bay move Alexander primarily to the slot with Stokes and Douglas outside?
Or, maybe a third option that Packer Report’s Andy Herman mentioned, perhaps Alexander and Stokes stay on the boundary while Douglas takes over as the third safety. That way, the Packers can have all three of those players on the field together in passing situations.
"“It’s a great problem to have because the defense has been playing really well, but I think really specifically the defensive backfield has done an outstanding job,” LaFleur said via SI. “The OG (Jerry Gray) has done a great job with all those guys. It is a challenge, but it’s a good problem to have.”"
Regardless of what Green Bay chooses, these are good problems to have. A secondary that has overall performed well this season could be getting one of the game’s best corners back for their playoff push.