Play in front passenger side axle

Hey guys. I was tearing into my Talon tonight to get it ready for the last couple weeks of summer. I pulled the spare wheel off of my passenger side (thats the side that shredded the tire) and thought I would give the hub a tug to see how it felt to check for a bad wheel bearing. The wheel bearing didnt have any play in in, but when I pulled on it I noticed that the axle had a little give in it. The nut in the middle of the hub was tight and the end in the tranny was in all the way, but it could sort of rotate and "click" back and forth if you know what I mean. Is this bad? Could this be why my alignment seemed to suck and I ate my front tires?