David Bakhtiari‘s time with the Packers is almost truly winding down. Post-Aaron Rodgers and Mason Crosby, the 2013 draftee is the team’s longest-tenured player. But the knee damage sustained in a late-season practice in 2020 sidetracked the All-Pro’s career.
That seminal setback has led to 5 surgeries on the equal knee; counting playoff opportunities, Bakhtiari has neglected forty five games when you consider that the December 2020 injury.
He used to be on the field for one contest remaining season, and even though the longtime Green Bay left tackle did now not put retirement in play when he went down last season, he will quickly no longer be connected to the lucrative extension signed halfway thru the 2020 campaign.
The Packers are anticipated to release Bakhtiari soon, The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman notes (subscription required). Labeling the remember a formality, the Green Bay Press Gazette’s Ryan Wood additionally factors to this launch transpiring.
The Packers can store nearly $21M by means of slicing the 11-year veteran. He is set to count a team-high $40M towards the Packers’ cap this year. One season remains on Bakhtiari’s contract. None of his ultimate income is guaranteed, though the Packers have more than $19MM in deferred signing bonus set to signify useless cash if/when the former fourth-round pick out is cut.
Prior to Bakhtiari going down with the ACL tear, the Packers gave him a four-year, $92M extension. That deal came to omit six weeks before the injury, representing necessary timing on Bakhtiari’s part.
While each the tackles who signed record-setting extensions at some stage in that 2020 season — Bakhtiari, Ronnie Stanley — have run into recurring injury hassle since, the elder of the two blockers has been unable to string collectively a constant batch of begins because going downA sensible “what if?” exists surrounding Bakhtiari’s injury.
The Packers received the NFC’s No. 1 seed in 2020 but noticed Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul tee off on their tackles in a slim NFC championship sport loss. The Barrett-JPP second-half sack spree blanketed Tom Brady, who threw three second-half INTs in the slim Buccaneers win.
While it is practical to advocate the Packers assignment to Super Bowl LV if Bakhtiari used to be available, that quickly devolved into a ignored opportunity. By the factor the five-time All-Pro was geared up to play oftentimes again, the Packers were no longer at that level. They finished 8-9 and missed the playoffs in the course of the 2022 slate, which featured eleven Bakhtiari outings.
Bakhtiari performed properly when on the subject in 2022, ranking as Pro Football Focus’ No. 12 typical tackle. More knee bother and an appendectomy sidelined him for six contests that season, which came after a 2021 campaign included only 27 Bakhtiari snaps. Last season, Bakhtiari performed in Week 1 but quickly wished the above-referenced fifth knee procedure. Matt LaFleur stated Bakhtiari experienced swelling in his surgically repaired knee before Week 2, and ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky shows coaching camp stays the aim for the injury-prone veteran.
After Elgton Jenkins suffered a torn ACL when filling in for Bakhtiari at left address in 2021, the crew settled on seventh-round pick out Rasheed Walker as the veteran’s major replacement last season.
The 2022 draftee made 15 begins and was once the team’s blind-sider in each playoff games. Barring an offseason upgrade effort, Walker would go into the ’24 season as one of the many rookie-contract starters on Green Bay’s offense.
As for Bakhtiari, the Jets being the team to give him a bounce-back opportunity looks logical.
Rodgers wields sizeable have an impact on with the AFC East club, and the four-time MVP has been linked to wanting to carry his longtime LT to the Big Apple. The Jets would probably select a extra stable option, given Mekhi Becton‘s injury-plagued tenure.
The team is no longer viewed as overly interested in re-signing Becton, however, and Rodgers really drove personnel moves closing year. It will be fascinating to see if Rodgers pushes difficult for the Jets to signal Bakhtiari at a substantially reduced rate — in contrast to his Packers deal, at least — as soon as his Wisconsin tenure wraps
