Jaire Alexander Explains Surprising Decision To Retire Midseason Last Year

In an essay in the Player’s Tribune, former Packers CB Jaire Alexander explained everything that was going on behind the scenes for him in a turbulent 2025 season that ended with him choosing to retire in Week 10. 

Before that, there was a drawn-out breakup with the Packers, persistent issues with his knee after offseason surgery, a high-profile flop in his Week 1 debut with the Ravens and a trade to the Eagles. 

Alexander admitted his trademark confidence was shattered in his first game with the Ravens in Week 1 against the Bills when he was torched on the field and in the media afterward.

“As soon as that game ended, I basically lost trust in myself as a player,” Alexander wrote. “And I also lost a lot of trust in what people would be telling me. Going in, everyone I knew was saying that I was going to play great, and that I’d be fine out there. Heck, I was telling me that, too. So when I went out there and stunk it up, it was like my entire world got turned upside down. I pretty much lost faith in everything and everybody.”  

He said he couldn’t get his knee healthy, and that a few weeks before Week 1 he had a stem cell procedure that left him unable to walk for three days. That didn’t calm things down with the knee, and Alexander said he probably just needed a lot of rest. But he was determined to push through and play. 

Alexander said he later realized through therapy that he hadn’t processed the emotional impact of being cut by the Packers. 

“After I got cut, I tried to pretend like it was no big thing, but I never really fully dealt with all the emotions I was feeling, you know what I mean? What I’ve realized since, in working with my therapist, is that me leaving Green Bay … it was almost like a marriage coming to an end,” he said. “And for someone who had devoted so much of his life to this game, that’s not gonna be something that happens and then you just move on like whatever. It lingers. And sticks with you. Or at least it did with me. And I can tell you point blank that I absolutely blamed myself in the moments when I’d think about that divorce.” 

He only appeared in one more game for the Ravens as the two sides worked to try and get him healthy. Ultimately he was traded to the Eagles before the midseason deadline. 

Alexander said he had a good first few practices in Philadelphia, but then his knee became re-inflamed. Ahead of a return to Green Bay in Week 10, he was afraid of a repeat of Week 1 which he had called the most embarrassing moment of his life. 

“I was freaking out,” he wrote. “I couldn’t stop thinking about a potential repeat of what happened in that Bills game. But this time against my former team. In my former home stadium. I mean, I know all those people. So it was even more terrifying.” 

After a sleepless night just before the game, Alexander told the Eagles he needed to step away from the game for his mental health. He says he doesn’t have any regrets over that decision. 

As far as a potential return to the game, Alexander didn’t rule it out, saying his knee is finally feeling a lot better and he does miss being on the field. But he feels like he has his priorities in line now. 

“People still sometimes ask me if I’m ever gonna come back and play. And, you know what … I’ll never say never — I still work out, and the knee’s fine now, so I’m in good shape. But for me, right now, the most important thing really is just to be in a good place overall. To be happy.”

Alexander, 29, is the former 18th overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Packers. He was entering the fourth year of a four-year, $12.050 million rookie deal that included a $6.844 million signing bonus before Green Bay picked up his option.

Alexander was set to make a fully guaranteed base salary of $13.294 million in 2022 under the fifth-year option when the Packers signed him to a four-year, $84 million extension.

He was scheduled to make base salaries of $16.15 million and $18.15 million in the final two years of that deal when the Packers released him in June. Alexander signed a one-year deal with Baltimore in June 2025. 

In 2025, Alexander appeared in two games for the Ravens and recorded five tackles and no interceptions.