The Jacksonville Jaguars have officially kicked-off their search for a new general manager, and among the top priorities for their new regime will be addressing a defense that finished dead-last in the NFL at defending the pass.
Head coach Liam Coen is sure to leverage his heavy influence on the offensive side of the football, but given Tyson Campbell’s recent injury history, and the overall inexperience of Jarrian Jones and Montaric Brown, the Jaguars simply can’t afford to enter the 2025 season without a bonafide cornerback on the roster.
The Bleacher Report scouting department recently broke down potential trade assets, targets and hypothetical deals for all 32 NFL teams, and the B/R staff proposed a blockbuster between the Jaguars and Green Bay Packers — sending superstar corner Jaire Alexander to Duval County.
Here was the site’s full hypothetical trade package:
Hypothetical Trade We’d Love to See: 2025 third-round pick (No. 88) for CB Jaire Alexander and 2026 sixth-round pick
There’s a decent amount of risk that comes with acquiring Alexander, but the Jags are in a position where they might need to take some risks. They have enough cap space to get aggressive, and they have to make up some ground on the Texans within the division. If Alexander can return to form this trade would be a bargain.
The key name to know here is Anthony Campanile, the former Packers linebackers coach who was recently hired as Coen’s defensive coordinator in Jacksonville. Obviously, any potential trade between the Jaguars and Packers would require Campanile’s sign-off, and the top concern in this proposed deal would be Alexander’s lengthy injury history.
Over the past four seasons, Alexander has missed 34 of a potential 68 games. He was also suspended for a game in 2023 for appointing himself a captain — and flubbing the pregame coin toss — against the Carolina Panthers.
Alexander has two years left on the four-year, $84 million extension he signed with Green Bay back in 2022. Packers fans are probably ready to move on from the 27-year-old, and fetching a top-100 pick in return would represent a best-case scenario.
While the connection to Campanile makes some sense on Jacksonville’s side, the elephant in the room is that Alexander played in just seven games in 2024, which was Campanile’s first on Green Bay’s staff. The Jaguars already have $76.5 million locked up in the oft-injured Campbell, and while Alexander is a premier lock-down corner when happy, healthy and motivated, there’s no guarantee he finds that prosperity on one of the NFL’s worst defenses.
This is a fun hypothetical to explore, but the better path forward for Jacksonville would be targeting a player like Asante Samuel Jr. in free agency, or spending the No. 5 overall pick on a potential franchise corner like Colorado’s Travis Hunter or Michigan’s Will Johnson.