Once afraid to talk to Rodgers, Bakhtiari is now QB's protector
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- When David Bakhtiari first stepped into the left tackle spot as a rookie in 2013, he was scared. To put it in his own words would require asterisks to denote the more colorful language Bakhtiari used to describe the experience.
The torn ACL suffered by Bryan Bulaga during the Family Night scrimmage took Bakhtiari from a bench role into arguably the most important position on the Green Bay Packers offensive line.
The then-21-year-old was just one week into his first NFL training camp. Bakhtiari had the raw skills to get the job done. The Packers obviously wouldn't have invested a fourth-round pick on him if he didn't. But coming from a 1-12 team at the University of Colorado, it was a lot for Bakhtiari to handle so early in his professional career.
"I didn't really talk to Aaron (Rodgers)," Bakhtiari said of his rookie season. "I was like, 'If he speaks to me, I'll speak to him.' If he didn't speak to me, I didn't want to go up to him unless he wanted to engage in a conversation."
After two years of protecting Rodgers' blind side, Bakhtiari feels much more comfortable in the working relationship between the two.
"Now there's little things we can ask, talk about certain things and what he likes and doesn't like," Bakhtiari said. "Just the little details on how to become even better as a player for me in the pass game. Kind of molding my game to fit what Aaron wants. If Aaron wants this, I'm going to do this. If Aaron wants that, I'm going to do that.
"You have to have at least some type of cohesion relationship with your quarterback to know what he likes and doesn't like. Then be able to match your game to what he wants to do so he can throw the ball as effectively as he can."
There's no question that Bakhtiari improved in pass protection between his first and second seasons in Green Bay. He gave up 10 sacks and 28 quarterback hurries in 2013, but those numbers dropped to seven sacks and 20 hurries in 2014. According to the ProFootballFocus ratings system, Bakhtiari went from a minus-3.3 pass-block grade as a rookie to a plus-10.9 last season.
It was helpful for Bakhtiari's progression in his second year that he pretty much only had to worry about blocking for Rodgers. A year earlier, Rodgers' fractured collarbone brought out to the trio of Seneca Wallace, Scott Tolzien and Matt Flynn in the ensuing eight weeks.
"That's tough; you talk about difference cadences, just trying to get a feel for what one guy's pocket presence is," Bakhtiari said. "My rookie year, we were basically like shuffling a deck and throwing out a quarterback."
Still, even with his steady improvement, Bakhtiari realizes the consistently strong performances that are necessary to be viewed as one of the Packers' better offensive linemen. Just avoiding being the weak link is difficult enough.
With two-time second-team All-Pro guard Josh Sitton lined up to his immediate right, there aren't many games in which Bakhtiari has even been able to claim that he was the strength on the left side of the line.
"On the line, there's always a competition," Bakhtiari said. "We're always competing, not only out on the field against the opponent, but everyone wants to be the best. In this line of duty, we're all so competitive at this level. Even unconsciously, we're competing against each other and we don't even know it.
"It's awesome. It drives you to play even harder."
Bakhtiari watched as Bulaga came back strong in 2014, showing little sign that a serious injury had occurred. It was enough to convince Green Bay's front office to invest $33.75 million over the next five years in Bulaga.
It was welcomed news for Bakhtiari, who knew the difficulty of trying to outperform Bulaga on a weekly basis.
"I would be ignorant to say that I'm not thinking like, 'Ah, (expletive), (expletive), Bryan hasn't given up a sack, I better not give up a (expletive) sack,'" Bakhtiari said. "It's not a scared thing. You're almost held up to a higher standard, as well, amongst your peers."
Offensive line coach James Campen has watched Bakhtiari quickly grow from a scared rookie who's afraid to talk to his quarterback into a dependable starter.
"He had a really good year for a rookie," Campen said. "He had a good year as a second-year player. We expect him to have a better year this year as a third-year player. I think that's when you'll see the jump in him, will be from Year 2 to 3. Dave is such a headstrong guy, a very accountable person to himself and to his teammates, he's going to get better."
Even as the playful Bakhtiari hauled objects in T.J. Lang's direction in the locker room during minicamp, the right guard was able to muster a few complimentary remarks.
"I think he's one of the guys that continues to get better, and he works hard out there at practice," Lang said. "He's going against some of the best guys in the league out there with Clay (Matthews) and Julius (Peppers). They're giving him a lot of good work, and he's a guy that just continues to keep developing.
"He's a guy that we can count on. He's going to come in every day and work and you know he's going to get out there and get the job done."
Bakhtiari knows the left tackle job is his now and moving forward -- for at least the next two years, at which point his rookie contract expires. While being known as the Packers' starting left tackle was a good accomplishment for Bakhtiari as a rookie, he's now set his sights much higher.
"I have goals I want to achieve," he said. "I don't want to be a left tackle, I want to be the left tackle. Whatever accolades come with that, come with it. But at the end of the day, you can throw every accolade at me, there's never going to be a day that I'm complacent. There's a chip on your shoulder that you have to have. There's a chip on mine that will never go away.
"I'll always want more. It sounds selfish, but in my life and how I view everything I want, I'm still going to be climbing, trying to get something else."
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