Bleacher Report's Gary Davenport compiled a list of 10 NFL youngsters he believes can still blossom into stars. The first player on his list was Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander.
Jaire Alexander was drafted in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft (18th overall) by the Green Bay Packers. The cornerback had a rollercoaster of a first year. He had some solid stats on the shallow surface, but was targeted often as he tended to give up plays to the receivers he was covering.
As mentioned before, the stats weren't bad at all for Alexander. In 13 games he racked up 66 tackles (two for a loss) and 0.5 sacks. He also had one interception and a solid 11 pass deflections. Again though, the numbers are slightly inflated.
Usually you would say 11 pass deflections is really good. However, the solid number was due to Alexander being targeted – a lot. Quarterbacks tended to pick on the rookie as it was almost always a solid matchup for the receiver that yielded positive results.
Due to that, many chalked up Alexander's rookie season as a bust of sorts.
There are a few things to think about though. First off, Alexander was a rookie. You can't expect him to go out there looking like Champ Bailey immediately.
Second, the secondary of the Packers is “eh” at best. Due to that, Alexander was often covering extremely difficult assignments – assignments that rookies who are struggling a bit shouldn't be dealing with.
With all that in mind, there's one simple message that should be repeated often – don't give up on him. Jaire Alexander might not have been perfect in his rookie season but he showed plenty of promise on multiple occasions.
Bleacher Report's Gary Davenport seems to believe he can still blossom into a star, and there's no reason not to agree.
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