The Titans bailed on their Andre Dillard contract after one season, making the former first-round pick a cap casualty in March. Dillard has not justified his draft status, but the five-year veteran tackle will have another chance in 2024.
Dillard is signing with the Packers; the team announced the move Thursday. The Packers parted ways with 11-year veteran David Bakhtiari, amid a run of knee trouble, and will bring in a player who has experience as a left tackle starter and swingman.
Bakhtiari’s latest effort to come back from the lingering knee trouble brought on by the ACL tear sustained during a December 2020 practice, but the former All-Pro made it through one game. The Packers cut Bakhtiari shortly after the legal tampering period began. The Packers are taking on $18.1MM in dead money via the release, which was not a post-June 1 cut; all the Bakhtiari dead cap will hit Green Bay’s payroll in 2024. Dillard represents a potential starting option, though his career to this point may make a swing role more appropriate.
Known for aiming to move ahead of the curve on their offensive line, the Eagles traded up for Dillard in 2019. But the team’s hopes of having the Washington State alum become Jason Peters‘ heir apparent did not come to fruition. In a lower-profile case that reminds of the 49ers’ Trey Lance–Brock Purdy development, the Eagles found their Peters successor in 2018 seventh-rounder Jordan Mailata. The latter took over, while Dillard became the swingman. Teams inquired about Dillard at multiple trade deadlines, and while he fared well at points replacing Mailata on the left side, the Titans season once again dinged Dillard’s profile.
More to come.