ROUND 4 PICK 109 (f/NO through MIA) - OT DAVID BAKHTIARI (COLORADO)

@michiganjoe posted:

To be clear, the #Packers are releasing LT David Bakhtiari. This is not a retirement. Bakhtiari has indicated to people he intends on playing this season. He becomes a free agent immediately. #Packers gain $20.95M in cap space but Bakhtiari will still count $19.06M in dead money.

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) March 11, 2024

In other words, he thinks he can make more new money from another team than the Packers offered him when they likely approached him to restructure his contract.

Is he in New York yet? I know many posters here have argued he will never play home games on that crappy turf, but I think he's going there.

He'll probably look like a superstar LT for about 4-5 games wherever he goes and then have to sit out a large part of the season when an injury flares up.

Packer Hall of Famer.   Hope he gets a big pay from someone else before retirement.

Hard to see great players leave.  Hope he gets healthy, signs a huge deal with the Jets, and gets a chance to hang out with his buddies for another year or two before hanging it up.

I hope he can play with his grandkids if and when that time comes.

he won't go to that division, buff 1x and 8 jet games, no way in hell he makes it through

David Bakhtiari on Nine to Noon with John Kuhn 03/13/24

David Bakhtiari on Wilde and Tausch FR/03/15/24

What does he say? Just don't have time to listen...

When the #Packers released All-Pro LT David Bakhtiari, there were some questions about what's next. My understanding: He is diligently rehabbing and is focused on returning to play this coming season, I'm told. He's taking it as it comes. But plans to play.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 18, 2024

Dammit! So close to uniting the two buddies.

https://theathletic.com/536761...=user_shared_article

.
...from a long time ago in a faraway place  

Ahh, good times.

Guessing David B ends up on a grass-field team and will most likely choose a  contender.

There are some NFL fields with high- tech turf that may get consideration, like Chargers/Rams at SoFi.

Here is the full list of stadiums that use real grass at their venues:

You think he's actually going to play this year??

Read a recent report some orthopedic group recently announced his knee was good now (or similar such wording).

If you didn't read on  TimesFour it is not true.   

@Boris posted:

You think he's actually going to play this year??

Play and play well -  that's my expectation for #69 in 2024.

Hope it all works out for him, he's a 5- star class A human.

More knee details here from Bak last fall, somehow I missed this session with reporters

https://www.packers.com/news/d...ee-injury-his-future

I have no doubt Bakh wants to play and will do all he can to get onto and stay on the field for whatever team he plays for. I also have no doubt GB knew realistically what that wrecked knee looks like and that in their mind, there's no way he'd last anywhere near a full season ever again. It's a young man's game and the Packers correctly moved on.

Sad, but true.

Father time is undefeated. Don't care how many peptides you take, how hard you work, how much rest and recover you do, how much anti-inflammatory diet you consume.

Best of luck to him...I think the Packers chose wisely.

I'm sure there are lots of teams that have some degree of interest, but I think it has to depend on what Daktari will accept for a salary.
HIs days of $20M+/year are over, so will he play for 10% of that?

I still think there is a possibility he would reunite with Rodgers in NY.
I also think he likely would want to play for a "contender" at this point in his career, so that eliminates at least half of the teams in the league.
The teams that drafted OTs in the 1st or 2nd round eliminates a few more teams.
And I haven't mentioned the grass vs turf factor yet.
Trying to line up limited choices, salary, and opportunity might be difficult to do.

What do you all think about him going to a team like the Raiders, Chargers, Bills, Bengals? Maybe the Rams or Seahawks? Ditto the Falcons or Giants.
Just as long as it's not one of our division rivals...
Teams (other than perhaps the Raiders) that are already established, but need a little extra to get some playoff success. Or teams that have new HCs, new or still young QBs?

Its getting to be that time...when Bak has a choice to make

My guess = Chiefs

Contender, plays on grass, progressive coach, top QB and they have some other LT options in case things go south on Bak's return to play. Reid is more than willing to gamble on risky moves to achieve greatness

We should be hearing something soon as the Battle of Wounded Knee reaches its exciting next chapter.

More than likely Bakh isn't going to be making a choice, the choice is going to be made for him.

More likely it will come after the season starts so they don’t have to guarantee his contract,

@Goalline posted:

More likely it will come after the season starts so they don’t have to guarantee his contract,

That's exactly how they handled it in years' past, especially for depth vets who still commanded a high salary. Now with void years, veteran benefits and other cap manipulations, teams don't sign as many guys after game 1.
You can go through the transactions from Sept of 2023 to see how few high priced vets were signed right after week 1

https://www.pro-football-refer.../09_transactions.htm

What teams do now is use the Veteran Benefit clause of the latest CBA which allows teams to sign a 10+ year vet like Bak, but he only counts as a 2 year vet for cap purposes. They are allowed a small signing bonus as well. NFLPA wanted this clause so vets didn't always lose out to cheaper young guys.

Then teams add per-game bonuses as a way for Bak to recoup some of the dollars he's worth and to offer protection to the team if things go sideways. Packers did this with Nick Perry's contract and several other vets where re-injury was a significant concern. Teams can push some of it into void years if they need to

The reason teams will take a chance on David is because there just aren't enough quality OTs to staff a 32 team league. Take a stroll through some of the dreck teams are rolling out there on Sundays. Marshall Newhouse played 10 years in the league. We're totally spoiled on the OL compared to most teams

https://www.ourlads.com/nfldep...rts/depthchartpos/OT

End of the day, the team MDs will make the call and they have the skills and experience to make such an assessment - as opposed to all the orthopedic specialists posting here at X4...