The Green Bay Packers have a David Bakhtiari issue. The veteran left tackle carries nearly $40 million worth of cap hit in the 2024 NFL season, and that's just too expensive, especially when considering the fact that he played just 13 games in the last two seasons (he played 11 games in 2022).

That is also why Bakhtiari is a glaring cut candidate for the Packers, but general manager Brian Gutekunst doesn't seem to be in a rush to decide on that front (h/t Rob Demovsky of ESPN).

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst said he hasn’t made a move w/LT David Bakhtiari cuz he doesn’t like to make decisions before he has to. He certainly doesn’t want to carry his cap number once the league starts. “Like to have a decision before that,” BG said just now at the combine.

The 2024 NFL calendar begins on March 13, so that's the deadline for the Packers to come up with a decision on Bakhtiari, who played in just one game in 2023 before getting ruled out for the remainder of the campaign because of a knee injury.

If the Packers release Bakhtiari, they will incur a 2024 dead cap of $19.065 million but would also create nearly $21 million worth of additional cap space. There is no certainty yet when Bakhtiari will be 100 percent healthy again, and that complicates his future outlook with Green Bay. Even if he's fine again by the start of the 2024 NFL season and assuming he's still with the Packers by then, will he be able to justify his contract by playing at an elite level just like he used to pre-injury?