Rasheed Walker’s path to replacing Packers’ LT David Bakhtiari

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Rasheed Walker’s NFL career started in the same spot as his initial foray into the sport as a kid: on the sideline.

As a rookie with the Green Bay Packers in 2022, the offensive tackle made the 53-man roster but had to wait until Christmas Day — 15 games into the season — to make his NFL debut. The entirety of his playing time that day, and for that whole season, was four snaps in protection on field goals and an extra point.

He never took a snap on offense.

“It was cool because I knew I wasn’t where I needed to be at,” Walker said an interview near the end of training camp this summer. “I was coming off an injury, picked in the seventh round, I wasn’t tripping about not playing.”

Don’t mistake Walker’s patience for a lack of persistence.

A concoction of both delivered him to where he is today: the starting left tackle for the Packers as they open the season Friday against the Philadelphia Eagles in São Paulo (8:15 pm. ET, Peacock).

Walker has called upon that patience and dogged sense of determination from early in his football life. He rarely saw playing time as a grade-school kid, got yanked off his middle school team by his dad for poor performance in school, was forced to change positions in high school and then suffered a serious knee injury near the end of his career at Penn State that raised questions about whether he would ever play again.

“When I first started playing football, I played Pop Warner football in D.C., we had to weigh in and I never made weight,” Walker said. “I went home crying because I didn’t make weight.”

The next year, he moved up a level to play with bigger kids. Then, he moved to Maryland and suddenly he ran into kids who had reclassified and were bigger, older and stronger than he was.

“There would be times where we’d be up 30 points, and I still wouldn’t be on the field,” he said. “Thought about quitting, but just never quit. Then there were times in seventh, eighth grade where I’d be playing good, but I’d be doing bad in school, so my dad pulled me from the team.”

Finally, when he entered North Point High School in Waldorf, Maryland, he thought he had arrived.

“I’m thinking I was going to be freshman All-American,” Walker said. “Nope. Another year riding the bench. Then in 10th grade, I thought I was going to be a defensive lineman, and they switched me to O-line. More adversity. Didn’t want to play O-line.”

Eventually, he embraced the idea of playing offensive tackle.

“The way I look at it is everything always falls in place to where it’s supposed to be at, so there’s no point in worrying,” he said. “Just be patient.”

His patience was tested once again last season, when he appeared destined for another season on the sideline. All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari seemingly had overcome his myriad knee issues and was expected to hold on to the starting job that Walker hoped one day would be his.

Bakhtiari lasted all of one game, and by Week 2 Walker had his chance. He would go on to start 15 of 17 regular-season games — at one point being benched in favor of Yosh Nijman — and both playoff games.

Then came the April draft, when Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst used his first-round pick, No. 25 overall, on University of Arizona left tackle Jordan Morgan.

“I don’t think Sheed’s ever worried about that,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said. “I think his mindset is, he’s a dawg, and he’s trying to go out there and just prove himself every day, and I don’t think he lets any of that phase him.”

Walker shut down any notion of it being a competition for the left tackle spot from Day 1 in training camp, forcing the Packers to try Morgan at right guard. By unofficial count, Walker did not lose a single one-on-one pass blocking rep in practice this summer, often going against the likes of Rashan Gary and Preston Smith.

“When they picked [Morgan], [Walker] said nothing to Green Bay,” Walker’s agent, Toney Scott, said. “He told me, ‘Man, nobody’s going to come in and take my position.’ When he says he’s going to do something, he’s going to do it. They have a real strongminded, strong-willed individual blocking the backside of their franchise quarterback.”

While Walker was inconsistent the first half of last season, prompting the Packers to rotate him and Nijman at times, eventually Walker wrestled away control of the job. By the time the postseason rolled around, he played every snap of the two playoff games. Although he was charged with a team-high eight sacks, he still had the best pass block win rate (95.8) among offensive linemen who played at least 450 snaps last season, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Walker’s run block win rate of 74.1% ranked 37th out of 70 qualified tackles. He also had a team-high six accepted penalties, including four false starts.

He made an impact off the field too. He was given the Packers’ community service award for his numerous charitable contributions in Green Bay and back home in Waldorf, Maryland.

Rasheed Walker has made an impact on the field & in the Green Bay community.

— Green Bay Packers (@packers) August 24, 2024

He has held free football camps for kids at his alma mater, North Point High School, and took part in the Packers Tailgate Tour, which visits fans around Wisconsin and raises money for local organizations. Next month, he will host a charity bowling fundraiser to benefit his foundation, “Youth is the Future.” Walker’s mission is to “inspire the next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs and community builders.

All of this almost never happened.

During his final season at Penn State, Walker began to experience severe pain in his right knee. He played through it until he no longer could. In addition to a fairly routine meniscus tear, doctors discovered much more serious issues would require either major surgery with a lengthy rehab and the possibility that he would never play football again, or he could try an extended period of rest, recovery and rehab.

He chose the surgery, but only to repair the meniscus. As for the other issue — essentially major damage to the cartilage and bone in his knee joints — he was willing to gamble that a treatment plan would work.

But it would prevent him from working out at the combine or at his pro day, thus ending his chances of being an early-round draft pick even though his talented suggested he should have been. NFL teams were aware of Walker’s condition leading up to the draft.

Walker’s rookie contract contained a “waiver and release of liability addendum” for the 2022 season that deemed his knee to be a preexisting injury, and therefore Walker (and not the team) would assume the risk if he reinjured it. The waiver, in part, states that Walker would “release the club, the club physician, it’s athletic trainers and the National Football League from any and all liability and responsibility … in the event I become physically unable to perform … because of deterioration or reinjury.” A source familiar with NFL contracts said he had never seen such a detailed injury waiver and that given the details of the waiver, Walker did well to have it applied only to his rookie season.

Now, if all goes well in Walker’s third NFL season, he might be in line for a significant contract extension in the next year.

“I know I’m fit for the job,” he said. “I want to be out there. I want to contribute to the team, and I feel like this is my job, to play left tackle.”