For months now, it has been obvious that the Green Bay Packers will be parting ways with five-time All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari this offseason.
In the event that Green Bay trades, or more likely cuts, Bakhtiari this offseason, the team will have to decide whether to attempt to bolster the left side of its offensive line through the NFL draft or switch full-time to Rasheed Walker, a seventh-round pick in 2022, at a premium position.
Mel Kiper Jr., an ESPN draft expert, supports the latter. In his first official mock draft, which was released on Tuesday, January 23, he predicted that the Packers will choose BYU’s Kingsley Suamataia with the No. 25 overall choice in the opening round.
As I mentioned earlier, this is a talented tackle class, and so if Green Bay has a chance to get its blindside protector of the future, it should take it. David Bakhtiari has played just 25 games over the past four seasons because of knee issues, including one in 2023. The Packers can’t rely on him coming back.
The 6-foot-6 Suamataia started 23 games for the Cougars over the past two seasons, 12 at right tackle and 11 at left tackle. I love the potential he showed this past season when he gave up three sacks and only eight total pressures. He is a mountain of a man who can move to the second level and take on linebackers in the run game.
Kingsley Suamataia Would Have Chance to Supplant Rasheed Walker on Packers O-Line
Suamataia would have a chance to play immediately in Green Bay if the team decides to move on from Bakhtiari.
Walker was serviceable enough on the NFL’s youngest offense, as quarterback Jordan Love broke out over the second half of the year and appears poised to earn himself a place among the league’s elite sooner than later. Considering that trajectory, however, Walker’s hold on the offensive line’s most crucial position has become more tenuous.
His success should earn Walker a spot in the Packers rotation, if not a starting job elsewhere on the line. However, fans should expect Green Bay to upgrade at the position of Bakhtiari doesn’t return to the fold in 2024.
In Kiper’s scenario, Suamataia will be the sixth offensive tackle taken off the board in the first 25 picks of the 2024 NFL draft.
Packers Can Save $21 Million by Cutting, Trading David Bakhtiari in Offseason
Bakhtiari has been excellent for the Packers over the course of his career, but the amount of money Green Bay can save is simply too much to justify keeping him around.
That may have proven the case even if Bakhtiari had been healthy over the past couple of season, but he’s been anything but. The left tackle played in just one game in 2023 after playing just one regular-season contest two years before. He appeared in 11 games in 2022.
Bakhtiari, who has a salary cap charge of around $40 million in 2024, is entering the final season of a $92 million contract that runs for four years. This offseason, Green Bay can free up $21 million by moving or releasing Bakhtiari.
