Left tackle Rasheed Walker is one of a whole host of Packers entering the final year of their rookie contracts, although based on the team’s recent premium investments on the offensive line via the draft, it appears he is unlikely to get a second deal in Green Bay.
The Packers seemingly making their mind up on Walker already may be harsh, but looking at his advanced statistics after two years as a starter, it is clear why Green Bay feels they can upgrade the left tackle position. Here is what the numbers say about Walker entering 2025:
Strengths
There are very few statistical areas where Walker has been consistently strong during his two years starting at left tackle, but he has done a good job of preventing Jordan Love from being hit.
In true pass sets, which removes play action, screens and quick throws, Walker ranks in the 75th percentile among qualified NFL tackles in hits allowed per opportunity (HIT/OPP). Opportunities are pass block snaps minus spikes and plays on which a penalty was committed.
He also improved from 2023 to 2024, going from the 69th percentile to the 81st.
Walker has fared well in the QB hits department in general, ranking in the 60th percentile in HIT/OPP without the true pass sets qualifier.
Weaknesses
Although he does not have many true strengths, Walker only has a couple of legitimate weaknesses, which is a credit to his overall play.
The biggest area Walker has struggled is as a zone run blocker. Since 2023, he ranks in just the 15th percentile in PFF’s zone run block grade, and he was actually worse in 2024 than in 2023, ranking in the 5th percentile last year, 72nd out of 76 qualified tackles.
His run blocking on the whole has left plenty to be desired, as he ranks in just the 22nd percentile in PFF’s overall run block grade since 2023, declining from the 30th percentile in 2023 to the 14th a season ago.
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Walker is still a young player, and improved in plenty of areas between his first and second year as a starter, which is encouraging.
Between 2023 and 2024, there was a marked difference in Walker’s ability to prevent sacks, which shows he was being truly beaten less often.
He went from the 41st percentile to the 75th in sacks allowed per opportunity (SK/OPP) and the 13th to the 61st in SK/OPP in true pass sets. Walker allowed just three sacks in 2024, which was half the number he allowed in 2023, and was fewer than Zach Tom’s four.
Walker went from the 44th percentile to the 53rd in PFF’s pass block efficiency metric, indicating his overall improvement protecting the passer between 2023 and 2024.
In the run game, Walker was a significantly better blocker in gap schemes in 2024, which coincided with the Packers utilizing gap runs more often. He went from the 19th percentile to the 52nd in PFF’s gap run block grade, taking him from one of the league’s worst to above average.
After being one of the more penalized tackles in the league in 2023, Walker made real strides in that regard last season, going from the 23rd percentile to the 44th in penalties per snap. He only had one fewer penalty (9) than in 2023, but on 165 more snaps.
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While Walker improved in terms of reducing sacks and hits on his quarterback, he was less effective at allowing low quality pressures last season.
In 2023, he ranked in the 46th percentile for hurries per opportunity (HUR/OPP), and the 67th percentile in true pass sets, but these numbers dropped to the 21st and 33rd percentile respectively in 2024.
On the whole, Walker can already be rubberstamped as a massively successful seventh-round pick, giving the Packers league average pass protection at left tackle for multiple seasons.
There are reasons Green Bay has not been satisfied though, drafting two college left tackles in the first two rounds of the draft over the last two years in Jordan Morgan and Anthony Belton.
Walker has been a well below average run blocker, and his overall play has not been good enough to stop the Packers adding competition. They can still get better play at the position, and the writing seems to be on the wall that 2025 will be his last year in Green Bay.
He is a very valuable player, and will likely be paid handsomely on the open market next year, but the Packers will probably not be the ones to do it, and the numbers suggest Walker is not the caliber of player they should be desperate to retain.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Why Packers will likely let left tackle Rasheed Walker hit free agency in 2026
Reporting by Mark Oldacres, Packers Wire / Packers Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
