Former Packers QB predicts David Bakhtiari will reunite with Aaron Rodgers on New York Jets
Maybe predicting that David Bakhtiari will reunite with Aaron Rodgers in a different shade of green isn’t a stretch. A former reserve Packers QB thinks it’s a near certainty.
Kurt Benkert, who played with the Packers for parts of two seasons, believes it’s going to happen, that the quarterback and his long-time left tackle will be together once more. But the reunion, he says, will happen in Florham Park, N.J. Rodgers is the new starting quarterback with the Jets while Bakhtiari still is with the Packers. He’s now blocking for Jordan Love.
Benkert was the Packers third-team quarterback in 2021 and was on the roster for several months in 2022. He knows Rodgers well. After all, Rodgers is responsible for the only snaps Benkert ever experienced in the NFL. Rodgers asked coach Matt LaFleur to let Benkert take two kneel downs late in a win against the Bears.
The backup quarterback appeared on the Up & Adams podcast this week. And he went there when it came to Aaron Rodgers and David Bakhtiari.
“I’m gonna put a really, really hot take in this,” Benkert said. “And I think that there’d be a chance that there’s a reunion one day, maybe this year, maybe next. I don’t know. But I could see one more piece of the puzzle ending up in New York before it’s all said and done.”
Benkert believes the Jets saved enough money under the cap to sign another free agent. The team already added former Packers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb. So why not bring on a tackle as talented as Bakhtiari, especially one so close to their mercurial new quarterback?
“I think if anyone ends up there, it’s going to be David simply because he gets tagged in every single picture that Aaron posts on Instagram still,” Benkert said. “And there’s just there’s a saga there. They’re like, they love each other. And Aaron misses his golf cart, I’m sure.”
Bakhtiari gifted Rodgers a golf cart this time a year ago. That’s how close the two are. Rodgers even visited Bakhtiari in the off season before he made his decision about leaving the Packers. And although Rodgers doesn’t always tag the tackle on Insta, he has been known to post about his friend, who he calls his brother.
And when Aaron Rodgers signed with the Jets, David Bakhtiari shared a sentimental note along with a gallery of photos. He wrote:
“Well. I hate goodbyes, and this one especially. The chapter is over on this one, but this friendship is a lifetime. You’ve been so instrumental in my life and I just wanna say thank you. And I love you brother. So enough with the sobby stuff. Here’s a fun collage with some of the good times we’ve had over the years all bundled together and tied with your favorite band. Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
So, does it sound like it’s happening?
Before training camp started, the Jets still had more than $21.5 million in salary cap space. They signed running back Dalvin Cook this week. Do they still have the dollars to pluck Bakhtiari away from the Packers? We’ll let the Jets figure it out.