The Green Bay Packers had several options with left tackle David Bakhtiari. Obviously, paying him a $21.4 million salary with a $39.994 million cap hit was unrealistic, but they could have kept the former All-Pro with a paycut, a restructure, or an extension — even though Bakhtiari himself would have to agree to any of the options.
However, the Packers decided to part ways with Bakhtiari , releasing him in March after 11 seasons with the team.
According to the NFL community of executives, coaches, and scouts, the Packers were clearly right by making that call. ESPN's national reporter Jeremy Fowler made the exercise of calling around to see who the top 10 players by position in the league are, and unsurprisingly Bakhtiari didn't crack the tackle list.
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Even though the top 10 had zero debuts, and nine players who were already there in 2023, Bakhtiari didn't get a single vote.
The top 10 has Trent Williams, Penei Sewell, Laremy Tunsil, Tristan Wirfs, Lane Johnson, Christian Darrisaw, Jordan Mailata, Andrew Thomas, Rashawn Slater, and Ronnie Stanley — the last one is certainly the biggest surprise, considering his recent injuries and decline in performance.
Tyron Smith, Dion Dawkins, Terron Armstead, Kolton Miller, Taylor Decker, and Charles Cross received honorable mentions.
Several other players, probably worse than Bakhtiari, received votes. But everything for the former Packer revolves around his knee injury. He's played only 13 games since the first ACL injury in 2020, and it's impossible to know for sure if he will be able to consistently play ever again.
Recently, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that Bakhtiari's recovery is going well and that he is on track to play this season, though. If that's the case, he can certainly be a difference-maker for a contender — but top minds around the league seem to agree with the Packers' decision to move on.
On the other hand...
While the Packers were perceived as correct by releasing Bakhtiari, the NFL world doesn't seem to trust the replacement options as much. Rasheed Walker and Zach Tom didn't get votes, and this is wild considering some of the names remembered at some point:
Also receiving votes: Spencer Brown (Buffalo Bills), Darnell Wright (Chicago Bears), Orlando Brown Jr. (Cincinnati Bengals), Jake Matthews (Atlanta Falcons), Paris Johnson Jr. (Arizona Cardinals), Ryan Ramczyk (New Orleans Saints), Tytus Howard (Houston Texans), Taylor Moton (Carolina Panthers), Garett Bolles (Denver Broncos), Bernhard Raimann (Indianapolis Colts).
The Packers agreed that they needed offensive line reinforcements, though. They drafted three of them — versatile lineman Jordan Morgan in the first, center Jacob Monk in the fifth, and tackle Travis Glover in the sixth. General manager Brian Gutekunst also signed veterans Andre Dillard and Lecitus Smith in free agency.
Related: Five potential landing spots for David Bakhtiari
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