Did the Green Bay Packers Make a Mistake Letting Rasheed Walker Leave?

I consider myself a Green Bay Packers fan who tries to see the positive. For example, the Packers have started their season 1-2 and looked especially bad against the Atlanta Falcons in their home opener last night but I tell myself they still have 14 more games and plenty of time to turn it around.

However, while I honestly do believe that; I also can't help but wonder if letting last year's starting left tackle Rasheed Walker leave in free agency was a mistake that will ultimately cost the Packers their season.

I am going to be fair and say on paper at least, letting Walker hit free agency made sense at the time. While not necessarily an elite tackle, he was solid enough for just about everyone to assume he would be offered a lucrative contract the Packers, with first round pick Jordan Morgan in the wings, wouldn't be willing to match.

In fact, there's no doubt in my mind they were expecting that large contract to net them a high comp pick and were probably as surprised as anyone when his best offer was a 1-year, $10 million contract with the Carolina Panthers that fell well below expectations.

Would the Packers have made a move to keep him had they known it could have been at a bargain price? Maybe, maybe not. However, one thing is for certain, they could use him right now.

While Morgan is the future and possibly still the present at that position, Walker would have given them a proven veteran and additional flexibility to overcome early injuries as well as an insurance policy for a line that has already experienced key injuries.

Since most (albeit not all) their problems can be traced to their offensive line struggles, it is a miscalculation that may be too much to overcome while Walker starts for another team.