The Green Bay Packers are releasing left tackle David Bakhtiari, according to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Bakhtiari, a five-time All-Pro who has fought through knee issues for three straight seasons, announced the end of his 11-year run in Green Bay earlier Monday.
The release is the end of the line for an elite player who was the best in the game at his position for over a half decade but suffered one terrible injury. Over the last three seasons, Bakhtiari played in just 13 games — and he missed all but the season opener in 2023.
Bakhtiari was set to count $40,018,311 against the Packers cap in 2024. Instead of committing 15 percent of the total cap to Bakhtiari and his still recovering knee, the Packers will move on, saving $20,935,294 while pushing $19,083,017 onto the cap as dead money. In other words, the Packers will count over $19 million on the cap for Bakhtiari this season despite him likely to play elsewhere.
But the $20 million is also valuable for a team that has two starting-caliber offensive tackle and needs help at safety, linebacker and running back. The cap space will allow general manager Brian Gutekunst to be aggressive in free agency, which opens officially on Wednesday. The legal tampering period arrived Monday.
The Packers originally selected Bakhtiari in the fourth round of the 2013 draft.
Between 2016 and 2020, Bakhtiari made three second-team All-Pro teams and two first-team All-Pro teams.
Per Silverstein, Bakhtiari wants to keep playing and will now be free to find a new team immediately.
