David Bakhtiari Clarifies Comments On Packers + What He Said To Jordan Love About Rebuilding
"I think there's been a little bit of awkwardness and I think that really just stems from the lack of understanding and the fact that I have to spell it out."
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Recently Packers star left tackle David Bakhtiari discussed the uncertain future of the Packers as they transition from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love. Many people including myself questioned the way in which he laid out his thoughts and expectations about what the Packers would be. One of the biggest takeaways from the initial interview was the fact that he kept mentioning the Packers as “they” instead of we.
“The Packers are rebuilding whether you think so or not. Could they be good? I don’t know. Could they be bad? Probably if you’re betting more people are going to think they are going to be bad than good. Right? Is that fair to say?”
Over the weekend Bakhtiari cleared up the confusion surrounding his comments with Mike Silver by explaining exactly what he meant and why he said what he said.
"Yeah, I think there's been a little bit of awkwardness and I think that really just stems from the lack of understanding and the fact that I have to spell it out. I guess this is the platform to do it. 'They' is the front office. I am not the front office. Like I said before, when I act rationally and I take my emotions out and look from a business standpoint, I'm thinking from a third-person point of view.
So it's almost annoying the fact that I have to explain that. And that's why I know I have Twitter and my ability to use my voice. So I'm like, by responding to any of this, it creates credibility and it makes it more real. When this is just people going off on a tangent, nitpicking said words. For what?”
So Bakhtiari made it clear that he wasn’t referring to the Packers as “they” for any reason other than taking himself out of it and looking at the Packers from an outside perspective.
Turns out it means nothing!
With Aaron Rodgers now gone David Bakhtiari is one of the Packers longest tenured players. The Packers have changed a lot since he was drafted in the 4th round of the 2013 NFL draft.
In Bakhtiari’s first season Jordy Nelson was the Packers leading receiver with 1,314 yards. Eddie Lacey led the Packers backfield with 1,178 yards and became 2013’s offensive rookie of the year. A.J. Hawk was the Packers leading tackler and Sam Shields led the team in interceptions. It’s fun to reminisce about those days. I imagine Bakhtiari hoped that his close friend in Aaron Rodgers had stayed around, but that’s just not how things worked out. Bakhtiari will have an opportunity as he already has in years past but even more now with Rodgers gone to be a strong voice in the Packers locker room. He knows what it takes to have consistent success.
Bakhtiari also shared his thoughts with Jordan Love about the reality of transitioning from a hall of fame QB.
"We're moving on from a Hall of Fame quarterback. I literally today talked to Jordan about this. I'm like, 'The Packers rebuilt from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers.' What are we going to say? It's not a rebuild? Like, that is what that is. And that's totally fine. I'm not saying that we're going to be bad. I'm not saying we're going to be good. I don't know and that's the beauty. No one really knows how good they are. We start the season, everyone is batting 1.000. No one has any losses. No one has any wins. And let the season play out however it may be."
It doesn’t sound like Bakh wants to create high expectations for the Packers in their first year with Love. He’s basically saying we could be good or we could be bad, who knows. I guess that is the reality of a team that will be led by a QB who hasn’t thrown the ball more than 83 times in his NFL career. You don’t really know what you have until you have more to go off of. Maybe it’s smart to not try to put too much pressure on Love.
Before I end today’s newsletter I want to go over one final meaningful quote that sheds a light into what Bakhtiari’s future could look like in Green Bay. After 2023 his cap hit will jump to $40.5 million. That’s massive. It’s about the same as Rodgers cap hit will be for Green Bay this year if he gets traded before June 1. That will be a problem the Packers have to address and Bakhtiari understands this.
"By the restructures that we've done collectively, the Packers and I, we've pretty much put ourselves in a predicament where it's gonna be either cutting me or extending me. That's gonna be mutually decided upon, not today, not sometime in the near future. I think it's gonna come down to, if I had to guess, as we play throughout the season, where I fit moving forward, and then also on my end where I want to be in my career and my life moving forward."
So he says the Packers will either cut him or extend him. If I had to guess right now I am not too sure that Packers GM Brian Gutekunst would be willing to give an extension to a 32 year old player who has had trouble staying healthy after tearing his ACL. Maybe if Bakhtiari stays fully healthy in 2023 and the knee doesn’t cause anymore issues the Packers would be willing to give him a new contract.
Green Bay has been a team in the past to move on from players before they really fall off of a cliff. The harsh reality of the NFL is that at some point age catches up to you. Once you reach 30 most players are approaching a point of regression if they haven’t already started. Of course it is a player by player case.
This draft could be telling about what the Packers plan to do with Bakhtiari in the future. If they come in and draft a tackle early that could be a sign that they have a plan in place to prepare for Bakhtiari’s departure. Left tackle is one the most important positions on the offensive line and Brian Gutekunst will ensure that Love’s blindside is covered for years to come.
There are a couple young guys on the Packers that could fill in at LT in the future, Zach Tom and Yosh Nijman.Both have spent some time on the left side. Last year in weeks 1-6 filling in for David Bakhtiari Yosh Nijman allowed zero sacks. The Packers brought him back by giving him a 2nd round tender. He will be a free agent after 2023. If he plays well in 2023 the Packers could decide to give him a new contract. Zach Tom, who the Packers drafted in the 4th round last year was dominant in his time playing left tackle in 2022. He also allowed 0 sacks in the 5 games he played at LT.
Just to put Zach Tom’s first year into perspective by comparing it to David Bakhtiari’s first year in 2013 I’ll put their stats per PFF side by side.
Zach Tom Rookie Year: 489 snaps, 1 sack allowed, 12 pressures allowed
David Bakhtiari Rookie Year: 1,120 snaps, 8 sacks allowed, 39 pressures allowed
Zach Tom played about half as many snaps as Bakhtiari did his first season. But if you look at snaps per pressure allowed Zach Tom only allowed a pressure every 40.75 snaps where Bakhtiari allowed a pressure every 28.72 snaps. So in that regard Zach Tom was more efficient than David Bakhtiari was his first year. We can’t sleep on Zach Tom and his potential of being the Packers future left tackle if David Bakhtiari ends up leaving.
Now I’m not saying that Zach Tom will be as good as Bakhtiari, but we have to remember that a player takes a few years to develop. If we look at PFF’s grade of Bakhtiari over his first 4 years it went 70.5,71.4,76.3, and then 86.4. In Year 4 he became elite according to PFF. Zach Tom was graded at 68.3 in his first year, just slightly below Bakhtiari in his first year. If Zach Tom continues to develop he could be a big part of this Packers future.
If need be the Packers could also kick Elgton Jenkins out to left tackle who also has experience outside. So all in all we have options on the roster if Bakhtiari ends up leaving after next season. It will be interesting to see the Packers plan for the offensive line develop over the next year.
That is all I have for today. If you’d like to receive everything I write about the Packers you can subscribe below. I also linked a few recent newsletters below if you’d like to do some more reading on the Packers before you get on with your day. Have a great week! - Luke Beller