GREEN BAY, Wis. — The right knee injury that cornerback Jaire Alexander has been dealing with over the past three weeks — and the one that forced him out of his return last Sunday after only 10 snaps – could see him sit out more time, but the Green Bay Packers cornerback doesn’t expect his season is over.
Alexander told The Athletic on Thursday that he sustained a torn PCL when he hobbled off the field on the final defensive play of the Oct. 28 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Alexander sat out the next game, a Week 9 loss to the Detroit Lions. He returned to practice after the Week 10 bye and went into last week’s game against the Chicago Bears expecting to play on a limited rep count but dropped out before halftime.
“I stayed here the whole bye week trying to hopefully come back and make an impact for the team,” Alexander told The Athletic. “It was a game-time decision at that, so we didn’t know … until, you know, few minutes before the game if I would play or not.”
Alexander, a two-time All Pro, did not say what a reasonable timetable for his return.
“I just need more than 21 days of non-contact,” he said. “It just needed more time because to take three weeks off and not do much, that still wasn’t enough.”
Earlier this season, he sat out Weeks 4 and 5 games because of groin and quadriceps injuries. Since the start of the 2021 season, when he appeared in only four regular-season games because of a shoulder injury, he has played in only 34 of a possible 61 games — or 56%.
All but one of the 27 games he sat out was because of injury; he served a one-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team in 2023.
Second-year pro Carrington Valentine probably would start Sunday against the 49ers if Alexander can’t play. Alexander did not practice Wednesday or Thursday this week.