Packers: Jaire Alexander doesn’t practice on Saturday

Packers CB Jaire Alexander missed practice on Saturday.

It’s unclear whether Green Bay Packers star cornerback Jaire Alexander will be available on Monday night against the Atlanta Falcons.

Alexander is on the injury report with a hand injury. After practicing in full on both Thursday and Friday, the third-year cornerback missed practice on Saturday, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.

Ahead of a tough matchup against a great Falcons offense, this is a concern. Hopefully, Alexander’s absence from practice was planned or simply precautionary. It would be far from ideal to lose Alexander for this game after he’s been playing at an All-Pro level in the opening three games of the season.

If he plays, Alexander will have a crucial role in this game, whether he’s regularly matched up with Julio Jones or Calvin Ridley. Both wide receivers will cause problems for the Packers defense, so Green Bay’s secondary will need to be on top of its game.

Alexander is currently ranked second among all cornerbacks in the NFL by Pro Football Focus entering Week 4. He’s made a phenomenal start to the season with 13 tackles, two tackles for loss, one interception, one sack, one safety, and one QB hit.

If Alexander misses this game, the Packers will need one of their young cornerbacks to step up. According to Pro Football Reference, no corner outside of Alexander, Kevin King, or Chandon Sullivan has played on more than four percent of the defensive snaps so far this season.

King leads the way, having played 95.93 percent of the snaps. Alexander is just behind at 94.77 percent. Sullivan has played on 71.51 percent of the snaps. Beyond this three, there’s a big drop-off to Josh Jackson, who has played the fourth-most snaps at corner at just 4.07 percent.

It’s clear how important Alexander is to this secondary, and that’s especially true in a tough matchup. Let’s hope he’s ready to go on Monday night.