Packers release LT David Bakhtiari
The longest tenured player on the Green Bay Packers roster is no more. Left tackle David Bakhtiari, one of the best offensive linemen of his generation, has announced on social media he has been released by the Packers after 11 seasons with the team. Reasoning The main motivation behind the move is the contract. Bakhtiari […]
The longest tenured player on the Green Bay Packers roster is no more. Left tackle David Bakhtiari, one of the best offensive linemen of his generation, has announced on social media he has been released by the Packers after 11 seasons with the team.
Reasoning
The main motivation behind the move is the contract. Bakhtiari signed in 2020 a four-year extension one and a half months before suffering a devastating knee injury that has prevented him from playing regularly since. With a sequence of moves to open up cap space over the last few years, the Packers ended up in a tough situation right now.
With the release, the Packers will create $20.953 million in cap space, but there will still be $19.065 million in dead money. Keeping Bakhtiari under the current structure was unrealistic, though, as the tackle was slated to cost $40.018 million against the salary cap.
The Packers couldn't restructure Bakhtiari's contract without his cooperation — over the last couple of years, the lineman hadn't agreed to adding void years to his deal to create more cap space.
What Bakhtiari can do
Now, there's a question about how healthy Bakhtiari is. If he is not able to pass a physical, the player can qualify for an injury protection of $1.23 million, which would also count against the Packers cap.
The worst scenario for the Packers is if Bakhtiari files an injury grievance up to his total projected salary ($21.4 million).
If he does, Green Bay would immediately have to handle a cap hit of 40% of that amount ($8.6 million). When the grievance is decided, the Packers could have an extra hit or money credited back in the future.
History
David Bakhtiari was drafted by Ted Thompson in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He turned out to be one of the Packers' best picks in recent history.
He started at left tackle from day 1 after Bryan Bulaga suffered a torn ACL injury on Family Night. Bakhtiari played so well right away that Bulaga was moved to right tackle when recovered.
The left tackle played 8,433 offensive snaps and 447 special teams snaps. Since the injury on December 31st, 2020, though, Bakhtiari played only 13 games — 11 of them in 2022. He played only half a game in 2021, the last regular season one against the Detroit Lions, and just one game in 2023 — week 1, against the Chicago Bears.
During his career in Green Bay, David Bakhtiari made the First-Team All-Pro twice (2018, 2020), the Second-Team All-Pro three times (2016, 2017, 2019), and the Pro Bowl three times (2016, 2019, 2020). In the last part of the 2010s, he was widely considered one of the best pass-blocking left tackles in the league.
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