GREEN BAY — We have not yet reached the point where it feels like head coach Matt LaFleur needs to channel his inner Vince Lombardi and shout, “What the hell’s going on out here?!” at the top of his lungs, the way the Green Bay Packers legend once famously did on a frigid sideline during a game against the Minnesota Vikings.
But there has seemingly been more drama this offseason than the Packers typically have to endure, and it’s worth wondering what might be happening with a team that normally steers clear of such issues—or at least manages to keep them from spilling out into the public eye.
The latest situation came to light Monday evening, when ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that general manager Brian Gutekunst met with wide receiver Jayden Reed’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, last week to “clarify the wide receiver’s status in Green Bay” after the team selected two wide receivers — Texas’ Matthew Golden in the first round and TCU’s Savion Williams in the third round.
Citing a source, Schefter reported that the team reassured Reed’s camp that the Golden and Williams selections “it will not affect Reed’s status as its top receiver.”
Reed, a 2023 second-round pick, has led the Packers in both receptions and receiving yardage each of his first two seasons. He caught 64 passes for 793 yards and eight touchdowns on 94 targets as a rookie; he had 55 receptions for 857 yards and six touchdowns on 75 targets last season.
Reed also tied with Dontayvion Wicks for the team lead in dropped passes (nine), and after a strong start, Reed disappeared down the stretch, managing 11 catches for 164 yards and no touchdowns over the final five games, which LaFleur attributed to Reed being “a little bit banged up” late in the year.
Reed has apparently been in attendance for the team’s offseason program, but he has had a few cryptic social media posts since the draft and also took to X after running back Josh Jacobs said during Super Bowl week that the team needed to add a bona fide No. 1 wide receiver.
Asked about Reed during a Q&A session with reporters on Monday, offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said Reed “looks great. He looks like the same Jayden — fast, explosive, smile on his face.”
Asked what happened to Reed in the final weeks of the 2024 season, Stenavich replied, “I think maybe he just got worn out. A lot of hits. I know he had that shoulder injury in the last game, obviously. But he looks great now.”
But whatever issues there might have been with Reed are not the only ones, apparently.
Left guard-turned-center Elgton Jenkins has not been taking part in the offseason program, and although Stenavich said Jenkins’ absence is not related to his shift to center for the 2025 season — “The conversations that we’ve had with him … he was open to it, excited about it,” Stenavich said — one league source said Jenkins, while being OK with the move to center, is looking to have his contract reworked in the wake of his position change.
“He’s not here for other reasons than that,” Stenavich said of the move.
Jenkins has two years remaining on the four-year, $68 million extension he signed in December 2022, but there’s no guaranteed money left on the deal.
Jenkins, who is set to turn 30 on Dec. 26, has an $11.7 million base salary for 2025 (with a $17.6 million salary-cap number) and an $18.5 million base salary for 2026 (with a $24.5 million salary-cap charge), which puts him in a difficult spot.
On the one hand, the Packers have been reluctant to pay players who have reached their 30th birthday a third contract, and with a high salary-cap number for 2026, he could be a candidate for being released if his move to center isn’t a smooth one.
At the same time, Gutekunst praised Jenkins earlier this offseason and said that team believes he has “a chance to be an All-Pro center.”
Jenkins was also involved in a dispute in which police were called to an Atlanta club earlier this month, according to TMZ. Jenkins was neither arrested nor cited in the incident.
Then, there’s the curious case of two-time All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander, who remains on the roster — even after Gutekunst publicly mused about trading him during the NFL Meetings in March — but has not been taking part in the team’s on-field work this offseason.
After the NFL Draft wrapped up late last month, Gutekunst told reporters that there were “no updates” on Alexander’s status other than that Alexander “is on our roster right now.”
Like Jenkins, Alexander has two years left on the four-year, $84 million extension he signed in October 2022. He has been in limbo since the end of the season, when he proclaimed at locker clean-out day that “I don’t even know if I’ll be here next year.”
On Monday, Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, one of Alexander’s most vocal supporters last season, declined to address his status, saying he wanted to “see what happens rather than talk in any hypotheticals.”
The Packers and Alexander’s agent have reportedly been working on a restructured contract that would reduce his $24.6 million cap number and $16.15 million base salary this season while also giving him the chance to recoup any pay cut through playing-time incentives.
Over the past four seasons, Alexander has missed 34 of the Packers’ 68 regular-season games and played in 34 of them. He’s missed 10 games in three of the past four seasons.
“I respect the question, and I hope you respect my answer on that one,” Hafley said. “Whenever everything pans out and we figure out who’s here, we will do the very best we can to put them in great positions and making plays. And when I find out, we’ll do that.”
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