Perhaps of some interest to the New York Jets, left tackle David Bakhtiari posted a farewell to the Packers’ faithful, signaling that his time in Green Bay is now over, with the team set to release him on Wednesday when the new league year begins.
Of course, there are two big reasons why this news may draw the Jets’ interest: one is Bakhtiari’s relationship with Aaron Rodgers. The two weren’t only teammates for ten seasons but were also noted best friends.
From a football perspective, the Jets’ biggest roster need right now resides at the tackle position. The best-case scenario is that they have to find only one starter, with Alijah Vera-Tucker able to man one of the starting tackle openings, and most likely, that would be on the right side.
However, if the Jets feel Vera-Tucker will be better suited at guard long-term, because as Joe Douglas said, it is not the Jets’ intention to continue moving him around, then the Jets have two holes at the tackle position to fill. My guess is that who the Jets add in free agency and the draft will dictate where Vera-Tucker starts the season.
After suffering an ACL injury late in the 2020 season, Bakhtiari has played in only 13 games over the last three years, including one game in 2021 and one game in 2023. After being placed on IR early last season, Bakhtiari underwent two more procedures on his knee that hopefully fixed the ailing issue for good.
Prior to Bakhtiari’s injury, he was on a Hall of Fame trajectory and was named an All-Pro five consecutive seasons. While Bakhtiari’s availability moving forward is an obvious concern, when he has been on the field, he’s still played at a very high level.
In 2022, when Bakhtiari played in 11 games, he didn’t surrender a sack and allowed only 10 total pressures. He ranked fourth among all tackles in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency that season.
Even in Bakhtiari’s lone start this past season against Chicago, he played extremely well, not surrendering a single pressure.
What Bakhtiari’s market is going to look like from a financial standpoint is very much an unknown, given that there is still quite a bit of uncertainty around his game-to-game availability. Perhaps this leads to a more team-friendly deal, at least for the 2024 season.
It is also still not known when exactly he is going to be available. For Bakhtiari, the hope is to be ready for training camp this summer, but that is dependent upon how his recovery goes.
For what it’s worth, Bakhtiari has also been very outspoken about turn fields and how they are detrimental to a player’s health, specifically with lower body injuries. The Jets, of course, play on turf at MetLife Stadium. Who knows how much, or if at all, this plays a factor into where Bakhtiari wants to end up.
While there has been movement early on in free agency at the guard and center markets, the offensive tackle position remains relatively untouched during the early portions of the legal tampering periods. It may take players like Tyron Smith or Trent Brown signing somewhere – two players who the Jets could be in on – to help establish what this market is going to look like for Bakhtiari and others.
This also happens to be an extremely rich tackle draft class, with the Jets holding the 10th overall pick. However, at least somewhat addressing the need in free agency gives the Jets some added flexibility in the draft–not to mention that they have potentially two starting spots to fill – plus depth – and only two picks in the top 100.
Individual accolades aside, Bakhtiari made it clear during his last press conference with the Green Bay media prior to being placed on IR that he wants to win a Super Bowl. Joining a team that has that potential will likely be a box that Bakhtiari will want to check this offseason.
