Hello Panthers fans! Congratulations on your recent acquisition of free agent tackle Rasheed Walker.
As exciting as this time is, you’re no doubt wondering what kind of player, exactly, your team has just signed, and I’m here to help as much as I can. Here’s a brief overview of Walker’s career, what he brings to your team, and what you might want to watch out for as your newly signed free agent takes the field in a new uniform.
The Packers, quite frankly, struck gold with Walker. After a moderately
decorated career as a long-time starter at Penn State (he was voted to two third-team All-Big Ten teams by the media and two honorable mentions by coaches), Walker slid to the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft over concerns about his athleticism.
The Packers essentially redshirted Walker for his rookie season (he appeared in just one game and only played four snaps), but things changed in a big way in 2023. David Bakhtiari’s triumphant return to the field after years of knee troubles ended after just one game, and the Packers turned to Walker as their new starting left tackle.
He was shaky at first, leading to an in-season position battle with long-time swing tackle Yosh Nijman, but Walker eventually prevailed, and was the Packers’ starter down the stretch in 2023 and into the playoffs.
The next spring, though, the Packers spent a first round pick on left tackle Jordan Morgan, presumably setting up another position battle for Walker, but the Packers were confident enough in his play that Morgan never really got a crack at the job. Walker remained the starter throughout 2024, then won a position battle with Morgan outright in 2025.
In total, Walker gave the Packers more than 3,000 snaps at tackle (counting playoffs) over his final three seasons, and I think you’ll agree that’s a pretty tremendous value for a seventh round pick. And, somewhat hilariously, he now presumably will take the spot vacated by Yosh Nijman’s departure and ultimate retirement.
So what’s he like as a player?
The good: Walker is a reliable, adequate starting tackle
For starters, one of Walker’s best attributes is his availability. He has appeared in every game over the past three seasons and has only appeared on the final injury report for a given game twice: once with a knee injury in 2024 and once with a quad injury in 2025. He was questionable for both games, but played in both. Maybe it comes with the size (he’s 6-foot-6 and 324 pounds), but he’s always been a durable, reliable player for the Packers.
And he’s a decent pass blocker, too. It’s one thing to be healthy, it’s another thing to actually do things with that health, and for the most part, Walker has. Make no mistake, he’s never been a Pro Bowl-caliber tackle, but he acquits himself well. In his three seasons as a starter (or partial starter) in Green Bay, Walker ranked 22nd, 19th, and 35th as a pass blocker among players who lined up for at least 500 regular season snaps according to Pro Football Focus. Not elite numbers, to be sure, but certainly adequate. You can do a lot worse.
The bad: Walker’s size is a bit of a mirage
On the flip side, Walker is not the mauler you might expect as someone with his physical dimensions. He simply isn’t the road grader he should be for someone who’s bigger than almost every defensive lineman out there.
As good as his pass-blocking grades are, his run-blocking grades are proportionally unimpressive. In the same data set as before, Walker ranked just 47th, 57th, and 54th as a run blocker among comparable tackles. It’s been a legitimate struggle at times for the Packers to run behind him. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call him a liability in the run game, and pass blocking is certainly more important in the modern NFL, but it’s certainly not one of the better parts of his game.
He will also give up penalties and sacks with a fair bit of regularity. Over the past three seasons, Walker has surrendered 14 sacks and has been penalized 27 times. There’s some nuance to those numbers; not every sack was Walker’s fault and not every penalty was a drive killer. But that’s still quite a pile of negative plays.
The bottom line: Walker is an adequate starting tackle who should be consistently available over the life of his contract
Overall, Walker may not wow you as a player, but he’ll be a decent starting tackle. You will have to cover for some of his weaknesses, and you’ll have to accept some negative plays, but you’ve got a good one here, or at the very least an adequate one. You also have the benefit of not having overpaid for him: nobody had a worse time than Rasheed Walker in free agency this spring. For now, you’ve at least solved your left tackle position for a couple of years. He may not be a premium option, but you didn’t pay a premium price. The Panthers can always move on in a year at no cost at all, but if Walker turns out to be a revelation, you’ll also have no reservations about signing him.
