OWINGS MILLS, Md. — With spring workouts winding down and attention turning toward the start of training camp next month, the Ravens continue to load up in their secondary for the 2025 season.
A day after superstar quarterback Lamar Jackson campaigned for general manager Eric DeCosta to add former Green Bay cornerback Jaire Alexander, Baltimore signed his former Louisville teammate to a one-year deal. The contract is worth $4 million with an additional $2 million in incentives.
“Go get him, Eric. I love all of our corners, don’t get me wrong, but go get him, Eric,” Jackson said Tuesday. “Yes, I hit him up, but you don’t know. You never know with Jaire. That’s my boy.”
Alexander, 28, has been regarded as one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks when healthy, but availability has been a major concern in recent years with the 5-foot-10, 196-pound defensive back missing 34 games and playing more than seven contests in a season just once over the last four years. However, the 2018 first-round pick was named to the Pro Bowl in both 2020 and 2022, the last two seasons in which he stayed close to fully healthy.
Now part of a projected cornerback trio that also includes four-time Pro Bowl selection Marlon Humphrey and 2024 first-round pick Nate Wiggins, Alexander offers intriguing upside to a Ravens secondary that lost starting safety Ar’Darius Washington to a torn Achilles tendon earlier this spring. Baltimore could still be in the market for a veteran safety to complement two-time Pro Bowl selection Kyle Hamilton and 2025 first-round rookie Malaki Starks, but the addition of Alexander makes it more likely that defensive coordinator Zach Orr will lean into three- and four-cornerback alignments more frequently. The Ravens also signed veteran cornerback Chidobe Awuzie this offseason.
In 78 career games, Alexander has collected 12 interceptions, 70 pass breakups, three forced fumbles, 1 1/2 sacks, and 287 tackles.