What Jaire Alexander's extension reveals about the Packers' plans

The Packers inked a long-term deal with superstar corner Jaire Alexader, extending his run in Green Bay and changing how the team will look now and in the future.

On Monday, the Green Bay Packers crossed off arguably the biggest item left on their offseason to-do list. The team came to terms on a market-setting extension for superstar cornerback Jaire Alexander reportedly worth up to $84 million over four years. The deal makes Alexander the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL, eclipsing Denzel Ward's contract from earlier this year.

On the surface, Alexander's extension will more significantly affect future seasons than 2022, as the corner would have otherwise played on his fifth-year option. The deal reveals a lot about the Packers' plans for 2023 and beyond, but it has multiple major ramifications for the upcoming season that merit discussion. Alexander's new pact changes the way Green Bay will look in each of the upcoming campaigns.

Alexander could see more time in the slot

The conventional wisdom suggests that Alexander will see the vast majority of his work along the boundary. Nearly all of the league's highly paid cornerbacks operate in that manner, and the notion of taking away an entire section of the field holds considerable appeal to defensive coordinators. The Packers certainly could get their money's worth by lining up Alexander wide and just leaving him there.

But just because the team can approach Alexander in that manner doesn't mean they will or should. Take the Los Angeles Rams, the team for which Joe Barry most recently worked prior to his arrival in Green Bay. Under Brandon Staley and later Raheem Morris, superstar corner Jalen Ramsey shifted regularly from the boundary into the slot and back. During the 2021 regular season, Ramsey saw a hair under 30% of his total snaps from scrimmage in the slot, according to Pro Football Focus. That figure does not include the snaps he saw as a "box" defender (essentially an off-ball linebacker or walked-down safety), either of which could realistically have come when Ramsey played the "Star" role.