Packers are expected to choose an elite cornerback to replace Jaire Alexander

admin | January 7, 2024 | Other Clubs | No Comments

The Green Bay Packers may or may not be able to repair their relationship with standout cornerback Jaire Alexander, but another first-round defender appears to be on the way.

On Sunday, January 7, Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus updated his Mock Draft 4.0, predicting that the Packers will select CB Cooper DeJean of Iowa with the No. 19 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

“This selection just makes too much sense.” “DeJean, who recently declared for the draft, played outside cornerback for Iowa in their off-coverage, Cover-3 base system,” Sikkema writes. “At 6-foot-1 and 207 pounds, he can body any type of receiver at the catch point, and his off-coverage experience has allowed him to demonstrate his instincts, ball skills, and playmaking ability.” He’ll look at the Packers’ secondary draftees’ size and output requirements.”

Packers Have Had Problems at Cornerback All Season Long

Green Bay has struggled at cornerback throughout the season, and a position that once appeared to be stocked for the Packers is now badly deficient.

Eric Stokes was the source of the troubles. Stokes, a first-round pick and star rookie in 2021 with 14 pass breakups and an interception, sustained a season-ending foot injury in the team’s ninth game of the season in 2022.

Stokes was placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list at the start of the season due to several surgeries, and hamstring concerns have contributed to the CB missing all but three games in 2023. Stokes was placed on injured reserve (IR) prior to last week’s win over the Minnesota Vikings, and he will miss the rest of the season for the second year in a row.

The front office then made an unexpected move, trading Rasul Douglas and a fifth-round draft pick in 2024 to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for the rights to their third-round pick in the same year.

“It was a tough one because of what [Douglas] means to our football team,” GM Brian Gutekunst said at a press conference on November 1. “We weren’t really interested in doing it, but at the end of the day the offer was kind of too good to pass up.”

Gutekunst’s decision to trade Douglas stunned the locker room, with even offensive players like running back Aaron Jones expressing shock and dismay at one of the team’s leaders leaving so soon and unexpectedly.

Jaire Alexander Has Put His Future with Packers in Question

Alexander suffered a shoulder injury during a game against the Los Angeles Rams just four days after Gutekunst’s news conference. He returned to practice 11 days later but did not play again until the Packers faced the Carolina Panthers on Christmas Eve in Alexander’s hometown of Charlotte.

Alexander’s attendance at practice but absence from the team’s games was described by ESPN’s Rob Demovsky as a “mystery,” with many around the NFL thinking that Alexander was displeased with the club.

“It’s led to rampant speculation that Alexander, the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL at nearly $22 million a year, is sitting out for reasons beyond his injury and that he’s unhappy with the current direction of the defense,” Demovsky wrote on Dec. 22.

Alexander’s activities in the pre-game before Green Bay’s game in Carolina were equally strange. Without the team’s permission, the cornerback declared himself captain and marched out for the coin toss, where he made a critical error that could have affected the course of the Packers’ season.

“Alexander almost cost the Packers a possession because, instead of electing to ‘defer’ their choice to receive to the second half, he told the referee he wanted Green Bay’s defense on the field,” The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman reported on December 27.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Alexander’s $8 million bonus, which is due this offseason, will be a “trigger point that likely will lead the Packers into a decision on whether they want to keep Alexander or move on from him.”

Cooper DeJean Has Produced 2 Impressive Seasons at Iowa

Given the trade of Douglas and Stokes’ injury troubles, Green Bay appears to be in need of another starting-caliber cornerback.

That becomes even more true if the Packers feel Alexander isn’t worth the bother at his current price, making DeJean an even more likely first-round pick in the 2019 draft.

According to Football Reference, DeJean has 116 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 13 pass breakups, 7 interceptions, and 3 defensive touchdowns in 23 games played over the last two seasons.

DeJean is the No. 17 overall prospect in the 2024 draft class and the No. 2 cornerback prospect, according to ESPN.