Once a promising seventh-round pick for the Green Bay Packers, Rasheed Walker faces a market drying up. His expected payday is now a one-year deal gamble.
Rasheed Walker is in limbo. Technically, it makes sense to call him Rasheed Walker of the Green Bay Packers.
He's been the Packers' starting left tackle for a few seasons now after they selected him with the 249th overall pick (seventh round) of the 2022 NFL Draft. Going from a seventh-rounder to a starting left tackle in the NFL is no small deal, and the Packers deserve some of the credit for his development.
So yes, it makes sense to tie him to the Packers right now, especailly because he's not yet been picked up as a free agent.
Walker was thought to be one of the top available free agents of this 2026 cycle, but we're now a few days past the new league year and even further away from the legal tampering period, and the 6-foot-6, 324-pound tackle has still not found a new home.
The conventional wisdom with Walker was that he was in line to make a ton of money as a free agent. The Packers had also put together a succession plan to let him walk. Former first-round pick Jordan Morgan is slated to be the starting left tackle in Green Bay in 2026 and beyond.
Spotrac believed that Walker was worth a four-year, $81 million contract on the open market.
And yet, here we are, and he's still a free agent. Not only that, but ESPN's Adam Schefter believes that the big man out of Penn State may actually have to settle for a one-year deal now and then try to reset his market for 2027.
Basically, per Schefter, the market dried up before Walker even had a chance to test it.
"There were not a lot of teams in the left [tackle] market to begin with," Schefter said on ESPN Milwaukee on Thursday (h/t Justis Mosqueda of Acme Packing Company). "There were only a few like Cleveland, Detroit, a few others. What happened is there were not a lot of teams, and I think he’s now gonna look to a one-year deal. A one-year deal to put himself in a good situation and go back into the market next year."
That's a tough fall from grace for Walker. From multiple years with guaranteed money to likely something short-term and team-friendly.
The Cleveland Browns recently signed Elgton Jenkins, who the Packers had released, so perhaps they'll find use for Walker. The Detroit Lions are looking to upgrade their offensive line, though it would sure stink to see him wind up in the NFC North.
Either way, Walker is going to once again have to prove himself. Thankfully for him, he's used to that as a former seventh-round pick.
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