It’s a big offseason for left tackle Rasheed Walker, but he’s a player that the Green Bay Packers are confident in heading into 2024.
With David Bakhtiari’s season cut shot, Walker was thrown into the fire, so to speak. As should have been expected, it was an up-and-down season for the 2022 seventh-round pick, who was getting his first taste of NFL playing time.
Walker finished the season allowing six sacks and 36 pressures. He ranked 35th out of 50 eligible tackles in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric and 41st in run-blocking grade.
“I thought he had a really good year,” said Matt LaFleur at the NFL Owners’ Meetings. “I think there’s a lot of room for improvement, just in terms of a consistency standpoint. You know, playing 70 plays at a high level. We’ve seen some great flashes from him. He’s certainly athletic enough to do it. So it’s going to be a big offseason for him, but he’s a guy we’re certainly confident in.”
The numbers above further illustrate those consistency issues LaFleur had mentioned. In fact, in Week 9, the Packers began a rotation at left tackle, as well as right guard, which resulted in increased competition and therefore elevated play across the entire offensive line.
That rotation between Walker and Yosh Nijman went on for six games, with Walker continually proving along the way that he should be the preferred starter.
In the Packers’ final six games, which include the two playoff games, Walker allowed only one sack and nine pressures. He would rank 10th in pass-blocking efficiency and 29th in run-blocking grade.
“I think just him, his pad level, using his hands,” said Adam Stenavich late last season on where Walker has improved the most. “Just how he’s balanced when he pass sets and stuff like that. I think he’s made a lot of strides there. And then in the run game too. Being a physical player coming off the ball. I think he’s starting to take off.”
Walker will enter training camp as the favorite to start at left tackle for the Packers this season. However, this doesn’t feel like a job that is going to just be handed to him, either.
GM Brian Gutekunst has mentioned on numerous occasions this offseason the importance of creating competition within each position group–and that concept applies to offensive tackle as well.
The Packers have spent the last two years developing Caleb Jones and Luke Tenuta. I’m sure the hope is that at least one of them can help create that competition at tackle and prove to be a capable backup option.
With that said, I doubt Gutekunst is going to solely rely on an undrafted rookie and a late round pick with almost no combined NFL experience to provide that. This also happens to be a rich draft class at the tackle position. It feels almost inevitable that the Packers are going to add to tackle in the draft and do so somewhat early on.
Even with adding to the tackle room, that doesn’t mean that Walker won’t be the starter come Week 1, but he’s likely going to have to earn it again and show the growth that he’s made from his first season as a starter heading into what hopefully becomes his second season as a starter.
“He’s done a great job,” added Stenavich. “You can see he’s got the physical tools, the athleticism, moves well in space. I just think he needs to be more consistent with his mental approach. But there’s a lot of growth still there with Rasheed. You can definitely see he has the tools to play on the edge and be pretty effective.”