Packers add to receiver depth with Turner signing
Depth at wide receiver was an issue for the Green Bay Packers even before free-agent addition Devin Funchess opted out of the season due to coronavirus concerns.
General manager Brian Gutekunst has been busy restocking the shelves and added his second wide receiver in three days by signing free agent Malik Turner on Wednesday.
To make room for Turner, the team released undrafted rookie safety Frankie Griffin.
Turner, 24, was an undrafted free agent out of Illinois in 2018 who signed with the Seattle Seahawks. The 6-foot-2, 202-pound receiver appeared in 21 games for the Seahawks, catching 17 passes for 265 yards and one score.
He played 27 snaps against the Packers in the Seahawks’ 28-23 divisional round loss at Lambeau Field last season and had a costly drop. He played nine offensive snaps against the Packers in 2018.
On Monday, the Packers claimed former Detroit Lions receiver Travis Fulgham, who is 6-2 and 215 pounds and was a sixthround pick of the Lions out of Old Dominion last year. He played in three games and did not catch a pass.
Bakhtiari more vocal
Left tackle David Bakhtiari came into the league as a fourthround pick in 2013 and has started from Day 1, logging 106 games protecting Aaron Rodgers’ blind side. Entering his eighth season, he has been an All-Pro four times and named to the Pro Bowl twice.
Yet in that time, he has never considered himself the “go-to” member of the offensive line. First it was tenured guards T.J. Lang and Josh Sitton. Then it was right tackle Bryan Bulaga. But with Bulaga’s departure this offseason via free agency, it leaves Bakhtiari and guard Lane Taylor as the elder statesmen.
It’s a leadership role the 28year-old Bakhtiari says he’s ready to embrace.
“When I came in here I was a fourth-rounder and I knew my place was ‘speak when spoken to and talk with my actions, not with my words,’ ” Bakhtiari said. “That’s what I wanted to prove to my teammates. I never wanted to lead from the back end with my mouth, I wanted to lead with my actions in the front.
“You know the type of characters that I walked into in the room in 2013. There was no chance that I would ever out-character them, and I knew — I had in mind — that I was going to follow in line until it was time. So my biggest thing is never stepping on anyone’s toes regardless of where I ascend to. So this personality you’re seeing more and more that comes out — even with Bryan here, I wanted it to be known to him right away that, ‘You’re the leader of the offensive line room regardless of the accolades that have come my way and whatever you say I have your back on.’
“So with that as I’ve grown and shown, I have then now spoken more. I think that comes back to when I was a rookie, Clay Matthews said to me, ‘The better you play, the more you can talk.’ I took that literal and I took it to heart.”