Green Bay Packers Star Doubles Down On Rebuild Statement

Green Bay Packers star left tackle David Bakhtiari made comments recently that backed up earlier statements that the team is in rebuild mode this season. The Packers traded his friend, Aaron Rodgers, to the New York Jets this April.

David Bakhtiari on the Green Bay Packers’ possibility sucking

Before the trade, Bakhtiari put himself in hypothetical trade negotiations between the Packers and Jets front offices during his guest appearance on a Barstool Sports podcast. Per WSH Media files, Bakhtiari clearly seemed to understand the uphill battle his teammates were facing this season when he said the Packers didn’t have to trade Rodgers because they would “suck” anyways and would earn a better draft position in 2024.

“Or, option three, and again I’m not being a homer, the Packers are rebuilding, whether you think so or not. Could they be good? I don’t know. Could they be bad? Probably, if you’re betting, more people are going to think they’re going to be bad than good, right?

So then they’re gonna be like, ‘We’re going to suck anyways, we want what we want and we’re not going to bend [to] anyone, so we’ll just eat it. [Rodgers] can stay un-retired. We’ll pay you. We don’t care because if we’re going to do it our way, it’s going to be on our terms. If not, what are we gonna be Super Bowl contenders anyways? So we’ll eat it. [Rodgers] can hang on the side, we’ll pay you your money and then we’ll suck anyways, get the picks.’”

Some Packers fans thought he made those comments as hypothetical and that Bakhtiari actually thinks the team is in a better position to win this season. Packers veteran running back Aaron Jones has made a few that the team plans to compete this season. Jones said a Packers player was in the wrong place if they believed the team was in a rebuild mode.

Bakhtiari doubles down on the rebuild talk

Bakhtiari isn’t backing down from his earlier rebuild statement. Account to Rob Demovsky, Bakhtiari said after an OTA practice that the team is definitely in a rebuild after, and because reasons pertaining to the Rodgers trade:

“How I look at is, it’s disrespectful to say you’re not rebuilding off a Hall of Fame quarterback,” Bakhtiari said after an OTA practice. “It was disrespectful to say you weren’t rebuilding off of Brett Favre when you moved to Aaron. No one knew Aaron and what he was going to be, so I’m not going to sit here and like pull back those words because that is, when you look at how it’s been building, how we were chasing after it and the cap – there was a bunch of situations that can definitely allude to it – we have a young team.”

In the report by Demovsky, Bakhtiari isn’t defeatist because of the rebuild. He pointed to the 2022 Seattle Seahawks as a team that had a successful rebuild after losing franchise quarterback Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos via an offseason trade.

In the coming weeks, we’ll see how Baktiari’s comments play out with the Packers team. He’s considered a possible trade piece after the all-important date of June 1. Bakhtiari was reportedly missing at Wednesday’s OTA practice last week. The practice came after he was reportedly asked by one of his coaches if he was all in after the Rodgers trade. Bakhtiari was present at practice Wednesday but said he was there only for the monetary incentive.

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