The Green Bay Packers may or may not be able to salvage their relationship with star cornerback Jaire Alexander, but either way another first-round defender appears to be in the team’s immediate future.
Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus updated his Mock Draft 4.0 on Sunday, January 7, in which he predicted the Packers will select CB Cooper DeJean of Iowa with the No. 19 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft.
“This pick just makes too much sense. DeJean, who just officially declared for the draft, started at outside cornerback for Iowa in their off-coverage, Cover-3 base system,” Sikkema wrote. “At 6-foot-1 and 207 pounds, he can body any type of receiver at the catch point, and his experience in off-coverage has allowed him to showcase his instincts, ball skills and playmaking ability. He’ll check the size and production requirements the Packers have for their secondary draftees.”
Packers Have Had Problems at Cornerback All Season Long
GettyGreen Bay Packers cornerback Eric Stokes.
Green Bay has had issues at cornerback for the entire season, and a position that once looked stacked for the Packers is now severely depleted.
The problems began with Eric Stokes. A first-round pick and standout rookie in 2021 with 14 pass breakups and an interception, Stokes suffered a season-ending foot injury in 2022 during the team’s ninth game of the campaign.
Multiple surgeries kept Stokes on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list to begin this year, while multiple hamstring issues have contributed to the CB missing all but three games in 2023. The team placed Stokes on injured reserve (IR) ahead of last week’s win over the Minnesota Vikings, where he will end the season for the second consecutive year.
Next came a surprise move by the front office to trade Rasul Douglas and a fifth-round draft pick in 2024 to the Buffalo Bills for the rights to their third-round selection in the same year.
“It was a tough one because of what [Douglas] means to our football team,” GM Brian Gutekunst told reporters during a November 1 press conference. “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 came as a blow to the locker room, as even offensive players such as running back Aaron Jones expressed distress and dismay at one of the team’s leaders leaving so abruptly and unexpectedly.
Jaire Alexander Has Put His Future with Packers in Question
GettyCornerback Jaire Alexander of the Green Bay Packers.
Just four days after Gutekunst’s comments to the press, Alexander went down with a shoulder injury during a game against the Los Angeles Rams. He was back at practice 11 days later but didn’t play again until the Packers took on the Carolina Panthers in Alexander’s hometown of Charlotte on Christmas Eve.
ESPN’s Rob Demovsky described Alexander’s presence at practice but absence from the team’s games as a “mystery,” which he reported had many around the NFL speculating that Alexander was dissatisfied with the organization.
“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 December 22.
Alexander’s actions during the pre-game ahead of Green Bay’s matchup in Carolina were equally bizarre. The cornerback dubbed himself a captain without the team’s consent and trotted out for the coin toss, where he made a crucial error that could have changed the trajectory 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,” Matt Schneidman of The Athletic wrote on December 27.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on December 30 that Alexander’s $8 million bonus, due this coming offseason, will be a “trigger point that likely will lead the Packers into a decision on whether to they want to keep Alexander or move on from him.”
Cooper DeJean Has Produced 2 Impressive Seasons at Iowa
GettyDefensive back Cooper DeJean of the Iowa Hawkeyes returns a punt during a Big 10 game against the Michigan State Spartans in September 2023.
Given the trade of Douglas and the injury issues surrounding Stokes, Green Bay appears in need of another starting-caliber cornerback.
That becomes even more true if the Packers decide Alexander isn’t worth the headache at his current price, which would render DeJean an even more likely selection in the first round of the upcoming draft.
DeJean has put up 116 tackles, including 5 tackles for loss, 13 pass breakups, 7 interceptions and 3 defensive touchdowns across 23 games played over the past two seasons, per Football Reference.
ESPN ranks DeJean the No. 17 overall prospect in the 2024 draft class and the No. 2 cornerback prospect.
Comments
Packers Predicted to Draft Elite CB as Potential Replacement for Jaire Alexander