Panthers T Rasheed Walker Enters Pretrial Diversion Program
MARCH 27: Walker said (via ESPN’s David Newton) the gun charge will be dismissed. His attention will be fully aimed at acclimating to his new team and potentially operating as a starter for a portion of the 2026 campaign.
MARCH 21: In January, Rasheed Walker was arrested at LaGuardia Airport after he attempted to check an unloaded handgun without the necessary paperwork. That resulted in charges on two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon along with criminal possession of a firearm. 
After Walker was released on his own recognizance, a court date was set for March 19. A pretrial diversion program in this case has been offered and accepted, Joe Person of The Athletic writes. As a result, Walker’s charges will be cleared provided he avoids any further arrests in the next six months.
At the time of his arrest, the 26-year-old was unaware of the fact he could not travel with his firearm – which is registered in Wisconsin – to New York without the required credentials for inspection at the airport. Walker’s agent declined to comment on the latest development in the case, one which will eliminate the possibility of any potential league discipline stemming from the original arrest. League spokesman Brian McCarthy also declined to comment on the matter.
Despite his age and experience on the blindside (48 starts), Walker’s free agent market did not develop as planned. The former Packer took a one-year Panthers contract with a base value of $4MM. Incentives can push the deal’s maximum value to $10MM, and playing time early in the season is likely with incumbent left tackle Ikem Ekwonu continuing a lengthy recovery from knee surgery.
When speaking to the media earlier this week, Panthers general manager Dan Morgan noted the team did its homework on Walker’s arrest before signing him. That suggested no league discipline would be forthcoming, and this latest update thus comes as no surprise. Barring any further legal issues, Walker will be able to fully focus his attention on training camp in advance of his debut Carolina season.
Panthers Sign LT Rasheed Walker
MARCH 19: Walker’s pact carries a base value of $4MM, Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 reports. $3.22MM is guaranteed, including a $2MM signing bonus. Per-game active roster bonuses and incentives will help Walker approach the $10MM maximum he can earn in 2026.
MARCH 13: Rasheed Walker entered free agency as one of the top options, representing a prime-years player with multiple seasons of left tackle experience. The ex-Packers starter is heading to the Panthers, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport report.
Carolina lost LT starter Ikem Ekwonu to a torn patellar tendon during their wild-card loss to the Rams. Walker will be poised to open the season as the team’s replacement. This is a one-year deal, per Pelissero, likely giving Walker a chance to reset with an aim toward doing better on the 2027 market. This contract features a $10MM max value, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler tweets.
This year’s free agent class, as some tend to be, was light on left tackle talent. Walker appeared poised to follow Dan Moore Jr. in fetching an upper-crust contract as a young LT with significant starter seasoning. Instead, this free agency has followed Cam Robinson‘s 2025 path. Robinson ended up settling for a one-year, $12MM Texans deal — one later traded to the Browns. While Walker’s precise terms are not in, a one-year contract represents a disappointment for a player universally expected to be one of this year’s biggest FA winners.
Walker, 26, ranked 11th in pass block win rate last season and 14th in 2024. Pro Football Focus was a bit less bullish due largely to the Penn State product’s run blocking. The advanced metrics site never ranked Walker higher than 40th overall among tackles. Connections to the Browns, Chiefs and Patriots emerged; though, Pats GM Eliot Wolf shot down the New England rumor.
The Packers had hoped David Bakhtiari could reemerge as a consistent starter in 2023, but he lasted just one game. With the former All-Pro quickly out of the picture that season, the Pack plugged in Walker despite having waited until Round 7 to draft him in 2022. He has since started 48 games. The Packers are on track to give the LT keys to 2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan, who has been an O-line nomad in Green Bay. Walker beat out the Arizona alum for the 2025 first-string gig, following in Moore’s footsteps by holding off a first-round challenger (as Moore did with Broderick Jones in Pittsburgh).
Despite trouble in pass protection with the Steelers, Moore received a four-year deal worth $82MM ($42.51MM guaranteed at signing). It appears teams had reservations about Walker. Considering LT being a premium position and a 48-game starter being available at 26, this represents perhaps the biggest value surprise on the 2026 market. But Walker will work toward making a better impression on teams soon. Ekwonu’s injury should provide a runway to do so.
Drafted in the 2022 first round, Ekwonu has stopped a decade-long Panthers LT carousel. A locked-in starter throughout his career, Ekwonu looked to be moving toward an extension. But the Panthers may wait now; the former No. 6 overall pick is almost certainly ticketed for the reserve/PUP list to open next season. As a three-year starter who was expected to do much better on this year’s market, Walker represents a high-end insurance option. It will be interesting to learn Ekwonu’s timetable. The Bears have a similar situation, with Ozzy Trapilo suffering a patellar tendon tear in the wild-card round, but they opted to bring back Braxton Jones on a one-year, $5MM deal.
Panthers Outbid Eagles For Jaelan Phillips
Jaelan Phillips‘ $30MM per year contract with the Panthers was the biggest payday of any player to hit free agency.
Multiple teams were in the hunt for his signature, including the Eagles, but the 26-year-old said on Monday (via The Athletic’s Joe Person) that Carolina’s offer was “more attractive” than Philadelphia’s.
The Eagles moved a third-round pick for Phillips at the 2025 trade deadline, and he put up a strong second-half performance, though his counting tallies of two sacks and four tackles for loss do not show it. In the last nine games of the season, he led the defense with 44 pressures, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He finished the year with 76 total pressures and a 18.4% pass rush win rate, both top-10 marks among edge rushers.
Those results created a massive market for Phillips in free agency, and he cashed in. The Eagles will now be in line to pick up a third-round compensatory pick in the 2027 draft, per OverTheCap, as a consolation prize after being outbid by the Panthers.
Carolina did not need to make such an aggressive offer to Rasheed Walker, who drew surprisingly little interest in free agency after three years as the Packers’ starting left tackle. He was aiming for a multi-year contract with a $20MM AAV, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, comparable to what Dan Moore Jr. received from the Titans last year, but had to settle for a one-year, $10MM deal with the Panthers.
Moore’s contract did not age well, so teams may have been hesitant to pay for starting experience rather than true high-end talent. Walker has graded out well as a pass blocker, but his run-blocking grade has never been higher than 56.3 and his pass blocking efficiency has never topped 96.5.
Carolina is an excellent situation for Walker to try to push his valuation into the market he desires. Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu is recovering from a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee, and given that the injury happened in the first round of the playoffs in January, he may not play in 2026. Walker will take his spot for the season in the hopes of a bigger payday this time next year.
Eliot Wolf Shoots Down Rasheed Walker Report; Latest On Patriots’ OL
A report earlier this week connected the Patriots to Packers pending free agent Rasheed Walker. The left tackle could end up as the most coveted player available at his position, but it does not appear a deal with New England will materialize. Patriots executive vice president Eliot Wolf publicly shot down a potential Walker pursuit this week.
“I saw that report, and it’s not true,” Wolf said on Tuesday (via Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald).
The Patriots already made a major investment at left tackle less than a year ago. With the fourth pick in last April’s draft, they selected former LSU All-American Will Campbell. The 6-foot-6, 319-pounder started in all of his appearances as a rookie, but a sprained MCL forced him to injured reserve at the end of November and shelved him for four games.
Campbell was available for all of what turned into a four-game playoff run for the AFC-winning Patriots. However, Campbell later revealed that he had not completely recovered from the injury. Campbell’s knee problems came to a head in a 29-13 loss to the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX. The 23-year-old allowed an eye-popping 14 pressures to a Seattle defense that spent the night harassing Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. The Seahawks registered 11 hits and six sacks on Maye.
Head coach Mike Vrabel emphatically stood up for Campbell a couple days after the season ended, saying: “He’s our left tackle. He’ll get better. He’ll get stronger … We’re not moving Will to guard, center, right end or anything else.”
Between those comments and Wolf’s apparent lack of interest in Walker, Campbell will indeed stay on Maye’s blindside next season. Campbell is not expected to require surgery on his knee (via Mike Reiss of ESPN), which should give him a full offseason to improve.
With right tackle Morgan Moses set to turn 35 on March 3, Wolf sees the need to bolster the position (via Brian Hines of Pats Pulpit). But Wolf expects Moses to return in 2026, the second season of a three-year, $24MM pact. As a 17-game starter in 2025, Moses was Pro Football Focus’ 24th-ranked tackle among 84 qualifiers (Campbell was a respectable 42nd).
A third-rounder in last year’s draft, Jared Wilson joined Campbell as another full-time rookie starter along the Pats’ line. Although Wilson was a center at Georgia, the Patriots used Garrett Bradbury as their starting pivot last season. That left Wilson to spend his entire first year at left guard. Knee, ankle and head injuries limited Wilson to 13 games. When healthy, he had difficulty adjusting to a new spot. Wilson ranked 67th among 79 guards at PFF. His 44.7 run-blocking grade was the seventh-worst mark at his position.
To maximize Wilson’s potential, the Patriots will consider moving him back to center this offseason, Mark Daniels of MassLive.com reports. The team has not approached him about it yet, but Wilson would prefer to play center, a source told Daniels. If Wilson beats out Bradbury for the starting job, the Patriots would need to put a contingency plan at left guard in place. They do not figure to aggressively pursue free agent guards, per Daniels. Adding a guard in the middle rounds of the draft would be the more likely outcome.
T Rasheed Walker Expected To Draw Interest From Chiefs, Patriots?
Teams are often hard-pressed to find offensive tackles in free agency who are capable of handling starting duties at a high level. When blockers on the blindside in particular become available, there is naturally a strong level of interest.
That will be the case for Rasheed Walker in the event he departs the Packers. Green Bay has long been expected to move on in this case, with 2024 first-rounder Jordan Morgan a strong candidate to be promoted to the role of starting left tackle. That should leave no shortage of suitors for Walker.
The Browns – who could have an entirely new offensive line in 2026 – were recently named as a potential landing spot for Walker. Cleveland certainly fits the bill as a team in need of stability on the blindside, and a big-money offer in that case would come as no surprise. Winning a bidding war may be needed to secure Walker’s services, though. One salary cap guru who spoke with SportsBoom’s Jason La Canfora predicted a deal averaging $25MM per year will be worked out in this case.
There are currently nine offensive tackles attached to an AAV of $25MM or more. The most recent addition to that list was Charles Cross, who landed a four-year, $104.4MM Seahawks extension in January. Walker could command a similar pact if a sufficient number of suitors emerge. The former seventh-round pick has operated as a full-time starter for the past three years, remaining durable during that time and earning consistent PFF evaluations. Walker has never graded higher than 41st among qualifying tackles, but blockers in their prime often land substantial paydays in free agency.
Entering his age-26 season, Walker is certainly in line to outpace the value of his rookie pact by an enormous amount. La Canfora spoke with multiple general managers who named the Chiefs as a logical suitor in this case. Kansas City’s Kingsley Suamataia draft selection in 2024 did not provide the team with a left tackle, although he settled in at left guard in 2025. The Chiefs’ most recent Day 1 pick was spent on Josh Simmons, who was limited to eight games as a rookie. Simmons may develop into a long-term left tackle solution, but the expected release of Jawaan Taylor will at least create an opening at the right tackle position.
Evaluators also pointed to the Patriots as a team to watch on the Walker front. New England drafted Will Campbell fourth overall in 2025, although New England’s playoff run was marred by poor play up front. Campbell in particular struggled upon returning from a late-season stint on injured reserve, but he received a public endorsement from head coach Mike Vrabel. Keeping Campbell on the blindside is something New England will certainly consider, although with over $40MM in projected cap space the team could certainly afford a high-priced offensive line acquisition in March.
The Chiefs, by contrast, are among the teams currently over the projected 2026 cap. Kansas City will need to shed costs over the coming weeks as a result, but making further additions up front could still be seen as a priority this spring. It will be interesting to see how Walker’s market shakes out with teams vying for a splashy signing on the blindside.
Browns Could Pursue Packers LT Rasheed Walker In Free Agency
Packers left tackle Rasheed Walker is the top pending free agent at one of the game’s most valuable positions. Between his track record as a capable starter and his age (26), Walker is going to cash in sometime soon. As Walker nears a trip to the open market in March, Cleveland is a potential suitor to keep an eye on, Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network reports.
The Packers have until March 3 to place the projected $27.76MM franchise tag on Walker, whom they stole in the seventh round of the 2022 draft. It doesn’t look as if general manager Brian Gutekunst will go that route, though.
“I don’t feel like Gutey is motivated enough to tag Rasheed,” a league source told Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports.
Gutekunst drafted Walker, but retaining him has appeared unlikely for at least a few months. The GM said last week that the Packers are prepared to give 2024 first-rounder Jordan Morgan a shot at left tackle. He’ll play next season for a much cheaper price than Walker, a starter since he took over for longtime Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari early in 2023.
Walker has racked up 48 starts in the past three years, including 15 last season. Pro Football Focus ranked Walker an underwhelming 52nd among 89 qualifying tackles in 2025. However, as PFR’s Adam La Rose noted in his Packers Offseason Outlook, starting left tackles don’t often reach free agency. When they do, they get paid. The demand outweighs the supply, which bodes well for Walker.
Flashing back to last March, former Steelers left tackle Dan Moore Jr. joined the Titans on a four-year, $82MM deal with $50MM in guarantees. Walker could fare similarly on his next contract. The cap is set to rise by over $20MM in 2026, putting Walker in an even stronger position than Moore was in that regard.
As for a potential Browns-Walker union, it makes sense on paper. Their offensive line was an injury-ravaged unit in 2025, and now it’s facing an overwhelming number of offseason departures. Pending free agent guard Wyatt Teller bid goodbye to Cleveland on Instagram earlier this week. Guard Joel Bitonio, also a pending free agent, is mulling retirement. Center Ethan Pocic and the tackle tandem of Cam Robinson and Jack Conklin are also without contracts for 2026.
Adding to the Browns’ issues up front, tackle Dawand Jones has suffered season-ending injuries in all three years of his career. Jones began 2025 as the Browns’ starter on the left side, but a Week 3 LCL tear and a hamstring avulsion forced him out for the rest of the year. He is under contract for another season, but if the Browns still see Jones as a starter, they could bring in Walker and use the former at right tackle. Jones has garnered more experience on the right side than the left during his injury-plagued career.
NFC North Notes: Walker, Doubs, Tom, Wyatt, Byard
This past weekend, Packers left tackle Rasheed Walker was arrested at LaGuardia Airport on gun charges, per a report from multiple contributors at the New York Post. On Friday morning, Walker was taken into custody after trying to check a bag that contained a handgun and ammunition.
Arthur Aidala, Walker’s attorney, explained that Walker legally owned the firearm but that it is licensed in Wisconsin, and he didn’t know that he couldn’t travel with the gun to New York. It was actually Walker’s attempt to disclose the contents of the locked gun box in his luggage that led to his arrest.
Walker was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm. After an appearance at criminal court, Walker was released on his own recognizance with a return date of March 19. Aidala is confident that the case will be dismissed.
Here are a few other recent rumors from around the NFC North:
- In the Packers’ young receiving corps, pending free agent Romeo Doubs has been perhaps the most consistent contributor in the talented position group. When asked if he would be returning to Green Bay in a recent appearance on the Up & Adams Show, Doubs wanted to make it known that he “would love to be a Green Bay Packer” but that he knows the nature of the business.
- Packers right tackle Zach Tom was unable to finish out the season with his team in the playoffs this year due to a knee injury, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. According to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Tom tried to get back on the field using a PRP injection, but he didn’t feel he would be able to pass block with it. He’s expected to undergo surgery to repair a partially torn patellar tendon with a recovery timeline of approximately six months.
- Silverstein also reported on the injury to Packers defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt, who reportedly suffered a broken fibula and torn ligament in his ankle. The soft tissue injury certainly lengthens any recovery time, but per Silverstein, Wyatt expects to be back in time for training camp.
- Following a surprising late-season run into the playoffs, Bears pending free agent safety Kevin Byard made it known that he “would love to be back” in Chicago on a new deal, according to Bears writer Gabby Hajduk. Byard expressed a desire to “finish what (the Bears) got started this year” as he “wants to be on a team that wants to win.” There’s no doubt Chicago will want to retain Byard, but the question will be if they can afford it. Byard led the NFL in interceptions this year for the second time in his career, earning a third first-team All-Pro selection as a result. Two picks in the two years before this season seemed to indicate a fall off as Byard ventured into his thirties, but he turned back the clock just in time for it to pay off in a big way on his next deal.
Packers Unlikely To Retain WR Romeo Doubs; OLB Rashan Gary A Cut Candidate?
In early October, we heard the Packers were interested in extending contract-year wideout Romeo Doubs. Now, multiple outlets are reporting that Doubs is unlikely to be back with Green Bay in 2026.
Earlier this week, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said the Packers are expected to let Doubs walk, and just a day later, Matt Schneidman of The Athletic (subscription required) said the same thing. Schneidman views Christian Watson and Jayden Reed, both of whom are under contract through 2026, as the veteran wideouts who are more likely to land an extension from Green Bay.
The Packers also have rookie receivers Matthew Golden and Savion Williams on the books through 2028, and, like Watson and Reed, Dontayvion Wicks is not presently eligible for free agency until 2027. While Doubs is presently leading the team with 45 receptions and 542 receiving yards, that is largely due to injuries suffered by other players.
Watson did not make his 2025 debut until Week 8 as he rehabbed a January ACL tear – and he has played very well since his return – and Jayden Reed only recently got back on the field after sustaining a broken collarbone in Week 2. Tight end Tucker Kraft, meanwhile, saw his promising season cut short by an ACL tear of his own in Week 9.
Fowler previously had opined that Doubs could be eyeing a contract worth $15MM per year. Though the ESPN scribe did not offer a prediction as to contract value in his latest report, he did say Doubs will do well if and when he hits free agency. Given Green Bay’s WR situation, it stands to reason the club would be disinclined to pay market value for the Nevada product.
Another player who could be nearing the end of his Packers tenure is outside linebacker Rashan Gary. Under club control through 2027 by virtue of the four-year, $96MM extension he signed in October 2023, Gary has already tallied 7.5 sacks this season, which matches his output from his Pro Bowl showing in 2024.
That said, he has not tallied a sack since Week 7, and as Schneidman observes, Gary’s pressure percentage since Week 9 is tied for 38th in the league. Even in 2024, 4.5 of Gary’s 7.5 sacks came in a six-game span, so what Schneidman refers to as “stretches of futility” are not a new phenomenon for the 28-year-old edge defender.
However, with Micah Parsons in the fold to take pressure off Gary, those stretches are less excusable. As such, Schneidman believes the Packers could release Gary this offseason, though he concedes that will be more difficult if 2023 first-rounder Lukas Van Ness – who has missed extensive time this year with a foot injury – does not quickly start playing like a Day 1 draftee. Cutting Gary prior to June 1 would net roughly $11MM in cap savings, though it would come with a dead money charge in excess of $17MM. A post-June 1 release would be more palatable in that regard.
Schneidman echoes another prior Fowler report in saying that Green Bay will likely allow left tackle Rasheed Walker to sign elsewhere in the upcoming offseason.
Packers LT Rasheed Walker Expected To Hit Free Agency
Packers left tackle Rasheed Walker could be the best player at his position to hit free agency in 2026. Green Bay is not expected to re-sign Walker before his contract expires, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, which would make him one of the biggest prizes of the offseason.
Starting-caliber left tackles rarely make it to free agency, much less a prototypical physical talent like Walker who has already established himself in the NFL. He was originally projected to be a Day 2 pick before falling on draft weekend due to lingering injuries from college.
The Packers took a change with the No. 249 pick, and a little over a year later, it paid off when David Bakhtiari suffered a season- and ultimately, career-ending injury. Walker stepped right in and has started all but one game since. This year, his 94.3% pass block win rate ranks seventh among the league’s offensive tackles, per ESPN’s Matt Bowen, and the 25-year-old still has room to grown.
The Packers have just $10.2MM in 2026 cap space with only 41 players under contract, per OverThe Cap. They can obviously find ways to create more room, but they just paid right tackle Zach Tom this offseason and already have an expensive interior offensive line. A seventh-round pick like Walker may also want to hit his full earning potential by auctioning his services to the highest bidder.
That should set him up to eclipse Dan Moore‘s four-year, $82MM deal with the Titans, an example of how much even unheralded left tackles can make on the open market. He hit free agency last offseason and earned a contract that put him in the company of Garett Bolles, Dion Dawkins, and Ronnie Stanley, who have all received Pro Bowl and/or All-Pro recognition in their careers. Walker is thought to be better than Moore and one NFC executive expects him to get “paid paid,” per Fowler.
Rasheed Walker Wins Packers’ LT Battle
Packers offensive lineman Rasheed Walker said on Monday (via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky) that he will start at left tackle in Week 1.
In training camp, Walker battled 2024 first-rounder Jordan Morgan for the right to protect Jordan Love‘s blind side this season. Walker, a two-year incumbent, long seemed to have a lead over his younger teammate, who only played guard in his six appearances before shoulder surgery ended his season.
Walker, a 2022 seventh-round pick, took over for an injured David Bakhtiari in his second season and held onto the left tackle job through 2024. However, the Packers’ selection of Morgan – a standout left tackle at the University of Arizona – indicated that Walker may not be Green Bay’s long-term solution on the blind side.
Walker will retain his job heading into the final year of his rookie contract, but an extension does not seem like a certainty. The Packers spent significant money on left guard Aaron Banks and right tackle Zach Tom this year and may not want to foray into an ever-growing left tackle market. They also added two left tackle prospects in Morgan and Anthony Belton across the last two drafts.
However, with neither of the younger tackles emerging as a more capable starter this summer, Walker will retain his job with the hopes of playing his way into a massive raise, either from the Packers or another team.