The Bills inquired about Jaire Alexander this offseason from the Packers. Now he’s a free agent.
The Buffalo Bills engaged in trade talks for Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander this offseason, per a report from Jordan Schultz. Multiple NFL reports on Monday indicated the enigmatic CB would be released by Green Bay after contract renegotiations failed.
Could the Bills add Alexander now that he doesn’t have a hefty contract anchoring him down? That remains to be seen.
Why is Jaire Alexander available?
Alexander signed a lucrative contract extension in 2022 and had a great season, but in 2023 and 2024 he’s fallen hard on injuries. He played in just seven games in each of those seasons. He also missed a dozen games in 2021, so injuries concerns are very real.
Green Bay wanted to adjust his contract to be more incentive-based in order to make sure they paid for performance, not potential. The Bills also asked for a contract change as part of the trade talks.
There were also some off-field concerns about Alexander. Here is Acme Packing Company on one of Alexander’s bonehead moments:
One of the games Alexander missed in 2023 was because of an incident when the Packers played the Carolina Panthers in his hometown of Charlotte. Alexander nearly messed up the coin toss before that game despite not being designated as a team captain, and the Packers suspended him for the following contest. Although the player and team said publicly that the suspension did not impact their long-term relationship, it was the first sign of significant cracks between the two sides.
Signing Jaire Alexander doesn’t make sense for the Bills roster anymore
The Bills engaged in trade talks for Jaire Alexander earlier in the 2025 offseason. Since then, they have completely revamped their cornerback position. They extended Christian Benford, an up-and-coming star in the league and their long-term stalwart plan.
Then Buffalo shored up their veteran depth opposite Benford with Dane Jackson, a former Bills CB starter with experience, and former first-round pick and All-Pro Tre’Davious White. White’s a few years and a couple serious injuries removed from him All-Pro years, but then again so is Alexander.
After those moves, the Bills drafted CB Maxwell Hairston in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft and later added Dorian Strong to the same draft class.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t include the other move they made at cornerback, giving up on former first-round pick Kaiir Elam by sending him to the Dallas Cowboys for a late-round pick.
The Bills added short-term and long-term options at CB, so they don’t really have a need at the position.
The salary cap issue isn’t the main sticking point for a Jaire Alexander signing
The Bills have a reported $2 million in Top-51 cap space, per Spotrac, so adding the final two players to the roster at cutdown time would have them up against the cap. The Bills have some levers they could pull to open significant cap space this offseason (and they likely will during training camp to provide them with flexibility for the season).
Because Alexander only played seven games last year, the Bills and almost every other team are going to look to add him on an incentive-laden deal. Alexander thinks he can get more money than what the Packers were offering, but there are structures on a one-year deal where the Bills could make the incentives easy to hit and have them apply to the 2026 cap.
The Not Likely To Be Earned Incentives threshold wouldn’t be high for Alexander: Play in eight games, make three interceptions, make 20 tackles… Not difficult bars to break.
Why signing Jaire Alexander makes sense for the Bills
Buffalo is far from settled at the cornerback position. They have a lot of options, but not necessarily a lot of solutions. Tre’Davious White has looked good in OTAs, but is half a decade removed from his last All-Pro, has had two major leg injuries, and is on his third team in 12 months because of it. Dane Jackson was cut by the Panthers this offseason. Maxwell Hairston and Dorian Strong are far from certainties.
Alexander was an All-Pro in 2022 and still has that talent. Buffalo has already taken a similar approach signing oft-injured pass rusher Joey Bosa this offseason. If the Bills signed Alexander, there is a scenario where it works out in spades.
Ultimately, I don’t think timing works for Jaire Alexander to sign with the Bills
With their salary cap situation being what it is and the roster moves they have made, I think the totality of it is going to push Alexander elsewhere. He won’t want the competition and the Bills won’t want to pay him the guaranteed money.
If the Packers had released him in March (when they should have in my estimation), it would have made a ton of sense for the Bills. But I think that ship has sailed.