The Jaire Alexander Era appears over in Green Bay.

I wouldn’t file this news yesterday under ‘shocking’ or even ‘mildly unnerving.’ Basically from the middle of the season on, it felt like we were on a path to the Packers moving on from Jaire Alexander. He’s missed 20 of the last 34 games of his career with injury (or suspension, remember when he pretended to be a team captain and almost screwed up the coin toss??), and the death blow here was his knee injury last season. He hurt his knee in Jacksonville, tried to come back against Chicago, removed himself from the game after 10 snaps, and we never saw him again last season.

And I think it was at that point that a path permanently diverged between Jaire and the Packer organization. Jaire didn’t feel comfortable playing on the injured knee, and it seems like the trainers and coaches thought he could have gutted it out. That it was a pain tolerance issue.

Now where you fall on that debate is up to you. Some fans are going to say that Jaire knows his body best, and at his position if you can’t move fluidly, you can get embarrassed by NFL wide receivers pretty quickly. Other fans are going to say that Jaire gets paid handsomely, and playing through pain is a part of playing in the NFL. I’m not here to tell you how to fan, but those are the two sides of the Jaire debate I’ve seen on Packer Twitter.

But this year’s injury, and Jaire not wanting to play on it, felt like the culmination of a LOT of things over the last few seasons that will ultimately lead to a divorce.

Now the question becomes: What can the Packers get for Jaire? Availability issues aside, he’s still only 28 years old. He’s a two-time Pro Bowler, and two-time 2nd team All Pro. Might not be a bad gamble for a team with issues in the secondary or a team that feels like they’re a piece or a two away from a title run*.

The problem is, the Packers aren’t exactly in the catbird seat when it comes to negotiating power in this situation. Other teams know that the Packers are probably moving on from Jaire one way or the other, whether by trade or by just releasing him if they don’t get any offers. Gutey is like the guy walking into the pawn shop on the 30th of the month needing to make rent. What the Packers have to be hoping for is a team that values Jaire and doesn’t want him hitting the open market. So maybe a 5th round pick? 6th? I wouldn’t get my hopes up for anything more than that. I think if the circumstances were different, and Jaire was a completely healthy 28-year old #1 corner, he probably fetches a 2nd round pick on the trade market. But those aren’t the waters we’re swimming in.

It does bring an unceremonious end to what looked like it was going to be a career that at least ended with a spot in the Packer Hall of Fame. Alas, his performance in the NFC Championship Game against Tom Brady looks like it was his opus in Green Bay:

I still can’t believe they intercepted Brady three times in that game and lost. Nuts.

*You know what team has issues in the secondary and is probably a few pieces away from a deeper run? The Green Bay Packers.

PS: I know some people didn’t love his antics off of the field (looking at you, Matt LaFleur), but I always got a chuckle out of Jaire. One of the funniest moments in recent memory: