Healthy Bakhtiari Could Set Offensive Line Wheels in Motion

With David Bakhtiari set to start a fifth consecutive game, could the Green Bay Packers feel emboldened to make a big change on the offensive line?

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Oct 20, 2022 11:27 PM EDT

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – David Bakhtiari is the key to the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line. He was while on his way to five All-Pro honors. He was when he suffered a torn ACL late in the 2020 season and was unavailable for the playoffs and almost all the following season. And he is again as he appears set to start his fifth consecutive game on Sunday at the Washington Commanders.

With every time he practices and every game he starts, the belief builds that Bakhtiari’s long and arduous comeback is out of day-to-day mode. With confidence that Bakhtiari can start this Sunday and next Sunday and the following Sundays, perhaps the team could think it’s safe to make a big change on the offensive line.

With right tackle Elgton Jenkins struggling through a position change and his own comeback from a knee injury and with right guard Royce Newman struggling in general, the Packers could move Yosh Nijman – the excellent insurance policy at left tackle – to right tackle and then move Jenkins to guard.

That’s all top-secret information, for obvious reasons, and offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich danced carefully around several hypothetical questions on Thursday afternoon.

“You’ve got to get your best five guys out there in their best spots,” Stenavich, the team’s offensive line coach the previous three seasons, said.

Given how Nijman played in almost 800 snaps at left tackle last season and this season, he is one of the team’s “best five guys.” But the other part of the sentence – “their best spots” – is equally important. Because he was locked into left tackle, there was no evidence that Nijman at right tackle is one of their best five. With Bakhtiari’s dicey status – he missed most of training camp and was inactive for the first two games – the Packers couldn’t dare move Nijman.

But the more Bakhtiari plays and practices, the more snaps Nijman presumably has been given at right tackle at practice. That’s a position he hasn’t played since his final season at Virginia Tech in 2018.

“The question earlier was do you feel more comfortable with Dave at left tackle now,” Stenavich said. “Every week, it was kind of like, ‘We’ll see, we’ll see, we’ll see, we’ll see.’ Well, now, the last two weeks, it’s been kind of like, ‘All right, he’s back in his groove now, so now we can kind of see what’s going to happen.’”

That last sentence was perhaps the signal that changes could be coming.

Sunday’s loss to the Jets was a disaster from all directions but especially from the right. According to Pro Football Focus, Newman (five) and Jenkins (three) gave up a combined eight pressures. For the season, among 61 offensive tackles with at least 200 snaps of pass protection, Jenkins ranks 40th in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-protecting snap. Of 63 guards, Newman ranks 58th.

For his part, Jenkins is up for anything. He is in his final season under contract and offensive tackles make more money than offensive guards. But after playing so well at left tackle last season until suffering a torn ACL about 11 months ago in Minnesota, Jenkins is focused on winning.

“I’m not opposed to any position at this point – especially with these past two weeks – whatever helps the team and whatever helps us win, I’m with it,” he said.

If changes are made, patience would be required as Nijman acclimates to a new side of the line and Jenkins adjusts to a new position.

“When you decide you want to make a change, you make the change and stick with it because it’s not going to be perfect right away,” Stenavich said. “The first day of practice, if it doesn’t look great, you can’t just scrap it. You’ve got to say, ‘This is what we’re doing’ and give it a week, give it two weeks and just make sure that that’s the right decision. So, yeah, you have to know you’re making the right decision and then just stick with it and see what happens.”