Jets Have Discussed Trade For David Bakhtiari?!

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The past few days talk of a potential David Bakhtiari trade to the New York Jets have started to make their way around the internet. These days you have to take a good hard look at investigating to see if there's any merit to these trade ideas or if it’s just a nothing burger with no solid footing. 

Today I decided to look into what’s going on. 

Recently there’s been news coming out of New York Jets camp that the offensive line has been having problems. The Jets risked their future by trading for Aaron Rodgers and have one of the best defenses in the NFL. All of that could be meaningless if their offensive line doesn’t do their job. 

In light of the Jets offensive line struggles in training camp, Armando Salguero, who covers the NFL for Outkick, shared information on the Jets reportedly having discussion about a potential Bakhtiari addition. I looked into his background and he happens to be a NFL hall of fame voter as well as an AP All pro voter. I am hesisitant to believe all reports that come out because it can be hard to know if what everyone is saying really checks out. So this may or may not be true… But here’s what is being said.

“How are the Jets going to live up to Super Bowl expectations with a toilet bowl offensive line?

I have one idea. A good one. It’s one the Jets have actually discussed in passing, according to a source.”

He then shares that the idea he’s referring to is trading for Bakhtiari. He also throws in this regarding Aaron Rodgers. 

“In fact, Rodgers has privately mentioned Bakhtiari as a possible Jets addition. That has included to Bakhtiari himself, per a source.”

I would not be surprised if Rodgers wanted Bakhtiari in Green Bay. Why wouldn’t he want one of the best tackles in the league who also happens to be one of his best friends? Here’s the thing, even if the Jets wanted to trade for Bakhtiari, the Packers also have to be willing to make a trade. 

Earlier today Ken Ingalls, who covers the Packers salary cap on twitter, shared this regarding a potential trade. 

Trading Bakhtiari would barely help the Packers when it comes to saving cap space. They’d only save $1.55 million.

The Jets offer would have to be spectacular for the Packers to make a deal. The Packers already have a Jets  2024 1st or 2nd pick coming their way depending on whether or not Aaron Rodgres plays 65% of snaps in 2023. The Jets could offer their 2023 3rd if they are truly desperate. 

Right now I’d say the Packers should absolutely not trade Bakhtiari. Having an elite tackle protecting Jordan Love’s blindside in his first season as starter is of utmost importance. Yosh Nijman is a solid tackle, but he’s no Bakhtiari. Plus if the Packers were to trade Bakhtiari and Nijman were to suffer an injury, it could get messy for the Packers offensive line. 

There is a chance that the Packers release Bakhtiari after the season. He has a cap hit in 2024 around $40 million. Bakhtiari already mentioned in the off-season that because of the large cap hit the Packers will either need to release him or restructure his contract. Brian Gutekunst has shown a willingness to move on from older veterans but considering the Packers didn’t trade Bakhtiari earlier in the season, I believe that they will hold onto him for 2023.

If it gets near the trade deadline and the Packers are struggling it could make sense to contemplate a trade. If Bakhtiari isn’t in the long term plan of the Packers, it would be nice to get some form of draft capital in return. But for now, I doubt we see anything come of this unless the Jets offered the Packers an offer they couldn’t turn down.

How desperate are the Jets?