For a decade he was the great protector, then came a New Year’s Eve he’ll never forget and today, David Bakhtiari bid the Green Bay Packers farewell in a touching social media post thanking Green Bay for the last 11 years, “It’s been a hell of a run”, he said. The massive knee injury at practice on December 31 of 2020 robbed both Bakhtiari and the Packers one of the best offensive left tackles in the game. From a 4th round pick out of Colorado in 2013, Bakhtiari became an immediate starter and rose to a first or second team All Pro tackle for five years running through 2020. The knee injury required several subsequent procedures, the last after the 2023 opener against the Chicago Bears.
The Packers last contract extension, (4 years/92 million) rewarding Bakhtiari’s play has a year remaining, at a salary of 20.2 million but a cap figure of 40. Considering the injury history and financial impact, his release wasn’t unexpected from General Manager Brian Gutekunst who continues to turn over the last of the post-Aaron Rodgers roster.
Bakhtiari not only protected the blind side of Rodgers in his MVP heydays with the Packers, the two became best friends and easily the two most interesting interview subjects in the locker room. When the release becomes official as of Wednesday, Bakhtiari will be allowed to pursue his career elsewhere and abosrb salary cap implications.
It was Rodgers who called him “The Big Giraffe”, he had the beard and mane to go with it.
Bakhtiari said he couldn’t thank everyone in his post but finished with, “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile, because it happened.”
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