The Packers have a star on their roster that isn't Aaron Rodgers or Davante Adams, believe it or not.
Yup, 27-year-old offensive tackle David Bakhtiari has been rated as the best pass-blocking tackle in the league via Pro Football Focus' scoring system.
David Bakhtiari has been the best offensive tackle in the NFL so far this season. pic.twitter.com/SzCQmfCXyc
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) October 10, 2018
Bakhtiari has a rating of 88. While Rams' star Andrew Whitworth is close behind, the competition after is a solid three points below. Bakhtiari also has another shocking PFF score. Since the 2016 season, the tackle has an overall score of 96.4. The second closest is former superstar Joe Thomas, who only has a grade of 92.4.
Yup. Bakhtiari may have a better career than potential Hall-of-Famer Joe Thomas. Let that sink in.
While Pro Football Focus is an arguable metric system, Bakhtiari's stats prove his worth.
Since the start of 2016, David Bakhtiari and Joe Thomas have given up the same amount of total pressures (49)
— Mike Renner (@PFF_Mike) October 10, 2018
Bakhtiari has 1,612 pass-blocking snaps over that span.
Thomas has 1,030.
Bakhtiari's rise to elitism is a bit crazy, too. He was drafted in the fourth round by Green Bay in 2013, a year that had a plethora of "can't miss" offensive linemen. Lineman Eric Fisher and Luke Joeckel went first and second overall respectively and turned out to be colossal busts. Bakhtiari, the undersized guard from Boulder, proved to be better than all of the others chosen before him.
Sometimes you can't judge a book by its combine grades.