Ravens sign Jaire Alexander: Winners and losers as former Packers cornerback heads to Baltimore

Jaire Alexander has found his new home in the NFL. After recently being released by the Green Bay Packers, the veteran cornerback inked a deal with the Baltimore Ravens, the team announced Wednesday. Specifically, it’s a one-year deal worth up to $6 million, according to NFL Media. The base of the deal is worth $4 million, and Alexander has a chance to earn $2 million more through incentives. 

When healthy, Alexander is a difference-maker in the secondary. However, that inability to stay on the field is what has hindered his career as of late and ultimately proved to be the catalyst for his departure from Green Bay. Because of injury, Alexander has played just seven games in each of the last two regular seasons for the Packers. He missed the final seven games of the 2024 campaign, last appearing in the club’s Week 11 matchup against the Chicago Bears. 

That said, this move to Baltimore could be the reset that Alexander needs to get his career back on track and be on the field on a more consistent basis. Again, Alexander has proven to be an All-Pro-caliber player during his career. Back in 2022, when he played 16 games, he tallied 14 pass breakups and a career-high five interceptions en route to Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro nominations. Even when he was on the field for his seven games played last season, he recorded seven pass breakups and two interceptions, so the talent is there. 

This signing is further proof of the Ravens pushing as many chips into the middle of the pile as they can to try and get over the hump in the AFC. The club has made the playoffs in five of the six seasons since Lamar Jackson ascended as the full-time starter, but has gone no further than the AFC Championship. This move, among others they’ve made this offseason, is in hopes of getting to that elusive Super Bowl and hoisting a Lombardi Trophy. 

But who are the specific winners and losers of this latest signing? Below, we’ll identify two winners and two losers now that Alexander is heading to Baltimore.  

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Winner: Ravens secondary

One of the big questions coming into the 2025 season is what kind of play we’re going to see out of the Ravens secondary. Is it the unit that surrendered the most passing yards per game through the first 10 weeks of the regular season? Or is it a secondary that gave up the fewest passing yards per game from Week 11 to Week 18? 

The answer is probably somewhere in the middle, but a healthy Alexander being entered into the mix does raise the secondary’s ceiling, despite his injury concerns. Over his final two seasons in Green Bay, Alexander being on the field was a pretty dramatic difference for the Packers. Specifically, in the 14 games Alexander played in over that stretch, the secondary allowed a passer rating of 85.5. When he wasn’t on the field, they gave up a passer rating of 95.4. 

Again, Alexander is a highly impactful player when he’s on the field, and the Ravens will now be the beneficiaries of that. 

Awuzie might be the biggest loser as a result of this signing, as it takes away what could’ve been a starting job on the boundary of Baltimore’s defense opposite of Nate Wiggins. The former second-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys signed a one-year, $1.25 million deal back in March, so his placement high on the depth chart was hardly guaranteed, but Alexander coming in certainly could put a dent in his playing time. 

Winner: Lamar Jackson

Who doesn’t love a reunion? Just one day ago, Jackson publicly implored the front office to go after Alexander, who was his college teammate at Louisville from 2015 to 2017. 

“Go get him, Eric [DeCosta],” Jackson said after the club’s mandatory minicamp session on Tuesday when asked about a possible pursuit of Alexander. “I love all our corners, don’t get me wrong. But go get him, Eric.”

Well, fast forward roughly 24 hours, and Jackson was the first to greet his friend and fellow Cardinal to Baltimore. 

Loser: AFC North quarterbacks

Even with all the questions surrounding Alexander’s durability, no opposing quarterback wants to see a player of his talent level enter their division. In the seven games he played last season, Alexander allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete 56.7% of their passes with him in coverage and recorded an 86.9 passer rating. If Baltimore can maintain its level of play from the second half of last season on defense, the addition of Alexander only makes the Ravens more of a headache to face twice a year, especially if he can stay healthy. 

So, that makes like more difficult for Joe Burrow, Aaron Rodgers (his former Packers teammate), and whoever the Browns start under center, along with all the other quarterbacks they’ll face in 2025.