Packers Suspend Star Cornerback Jaire Alexander for Nearly Costing the Team a Possession by Joining the Coin Toss

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The Green Bay Packers suspended star cornerback Jaire Alexander for “conduct detrimental to the team” after he joined Sunday’s coin toss despite not being a captain.

Moments before the Packers game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Alexander unexpectedly joined the coin toss. Because he wasn’t named as one of the team captains, he wasn’t supposed to be there.

Making matters worse was the fact that he even made the call for the team. When he won the toss, he claimed his team wanted to be “on defense.” The other players — and even the referee — were confused by his answer. The referee even attempted to clarify Alexander’s response and asked him if he meant “defer.” Alexander agreed and the game started shortly after with the Panthers receiving the opening kickoff.

After the game, Alexander appeared nonchalant about the ordeal and said he had joined the coin toss simply because he’s a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, and the coaches simply forgot about that when choosing captains for the game.

Jaire Alexander wasn’t announced by the Packers as a game captain, but he went out for the coin toss anyway. And called it. And won it. And almost messed it up.

Sounds like he just did it on his own.

“It’s only suiting. I don’t think coach knew I was from Charlotte.” pic.twitter.com/EVahq6QoOJ

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) December 24, 2023

On Wednesday, the team announced he was suspended for the next game.

“As an organization, we have an expectation that everyone puts the team first,” General Manager Brian Gutekunst said in a statement. “While we are disappointed, we had a good conversation with Jaire this morning and fully expect him to learn from this as we move forward together. We look forward to welcoming him back next week as he is a valued member of this team and will continue to be in the future.”

Although the incident may seem relatively minor on the surface, it could have been costly. According to the NFL rules, when a team wins a toss, it’s not explicitly choosing to kick or receive the ball. Rather, the team chooses when it wants to kick or receive to open a half. Once a team chooses to kick or receive, the second team is given the same choice to start the second half.

If a team chooses to receive the opening kick in the first half, for example, the other team always chooses to receive the second-half kick. In theory, however, that second team could decide to once again kick the ball to start the second half.

For teams that want to begin the game by kicking, they choose to “defer,” meaning they’ll let the other team decide how the game should start and then they’ll make their own choice in the second half. In virtually all cases, this means the other team will elect to receive the opening kick.

When Alexander said he wanted the Packers to start “on defense,” the referee could have interpreted that as him saying the team wants to kick it as opposed to differing. The distinction is important because if the Packers chose to “kick” and not “defer,” the Panthers could’ve chosen to receive the second-half kickoff, as well.

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