Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Rasheed Walker had a whirlwind of a 2023 campaign. He entered the season as depth in the trenches, a swing tackle expected to play in certain packages and provide the team with insurance. By Week 2, that plan changed.
Rasheed Walker was thrust into the starting left tackle spot after David Bakhtiari injured his knee. Bakhtiari wouldn’t play the rest of the season, putting Walker in the spotlight as Jordan Love’s blindside protector.
There were some ups and downs, as he was benched at one point and platooned with Yosh Nijman. However, he earned the starting left tackle spot back near the end of the season and played at a very high level.
“It was definitely a good lesson, like, stuff not going your way, every action has a consequence. My whole thing was I just wasn’t going to quit. I could have had a bad attitude, and been like, ‘Man this is BS, I shouldn’t have got benched.’ But I just took advantage of the opportunity to get better, and when I got my next opportunity I just (had to) prove to myself and to everybody that I could play,” Walker said via the Green Bay Packers official website.
Overall, he played 851 snaps in the 2023 season, allowing six sacks and being called for nine penalties. While those numbers aren’t too strong at first glance, when taking a deeper dive, you can see where he made strides.
As a result of those improvements, Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report believes that Rasheed Walker is in for a big 2024 campaign. He listed the Packers’ offensive tackle among his eight most underrated players set to make a major impact this upcoming season.
“Now, Walker enters the season as the unquestioned starter for a Packers team with aspirations of a deep playoff run and as the anchor for an offensive line Dallas Robinson of Pro Football Network ranked fifth in the NFL,” wrote Davenport.
Unquestioned starter, as Davenport put it, would seem to be hyperbolic. The Packers used a first-round pick on Jordan Morgan out of Arizona and he has been getting reps to start his offseason program at left tackle.
It will certainly be a positional battle to keep an eye on. The Packers are going to play their five best offensive linemen and Rasheed Walker will have to prove he is part of that group.
