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Green Bay — No coach has brought up right tackle yet. So for now, David Bakhtiari is preparing to be the Green Bay Packers’ left tackle.

“The only thing I know is I played the last game at left tackle and I haven’t had anybody tell me anything otherwise,” Bakhtiari said this week, after talking Julius Peppers. “I’m going to come in like I’m the left tackle. I’m going to take it on like I did last year and just try to keep whoever they want to throw at Aaron, keep them off his backside.”

Again, the Packers have decisions to make on the offensive line. Bryan Bulaga returns from his torn ACL. And while Bulaga spent his first three seasons at right tackle, the coaches flipped him to the left side last spring. “Family Night” ruined his season. The fourth-round pick Bakhtiari stepped into his spot and didn't blink as a significant upgrade over Marshall Newhouse.

After the season, offensive line coach James Campen wouldn't hint at any 2014 plans with his tackles. The Packers will also have 2011 first-round pick Derek Sherrod and starting right tackle Don Barclay returning.

Possibly, the Packers choose not to mess with a good thing. Bakhtiari wasn’t perfect --- as Thanksgiving Day would attest --- but he mostly handled his own against the league’s top pass rushers and finished in the run game. Green Bay averaged 133.5 yards per game on the ground. No rookie had started at left tackle in Green Bay since 1976.

Pleased with his season, Bakhtiari wants to make a jump in year 2.

“For me, I thought it was a very good rookie season — as a rookie,” he said. “If I look at myself like a rookie, hell of a season. As a player, I thought had a good, decent year. But I’m always harsh on myself. I don’t care if I was a rookie or not. Now, I’m not a rookie anymore. No one’s going to keep that tag on me.

“I just need to keep a higher level of expectation that I have to protect 12 back there and keep him up and make sure I’m playing the game at an extremely high level. I know if I keep people off him, he’s going to make plays and score points for us.”

At offensive tackle, the Packers got bang for their buck. Tackles Eric Fisher (Kansas City), Luke Joeckel (Jacksonville) and Lane Johnson (Philadelphia) went first, second and fourth overall. Bakhtiari was the 109th overall pick.

These selections will be on Bakhtiari’s mind through his career.

“Everyone’s always told me I’m not big enough,” Bakhtiari said. “I’m not tall enough. I’m not strong enough. I don’t bend that well. That’s cool, that’s great. Even in high school, in college, in pros, I like it. The day that people start telling me, ‘You’re the best, nothing’s wrong with you,’ that’s complacency to me.”

For now, the most pressing concern on the offensive line isn’t at tackle. It’s at center.

Evan Dietrich-Smith is gone, signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a reported four-year, $14.25 million deal. For the fourth time in five years, Aaron Rodgers will be adjusting to a new center.

From Scott Wells to Jeff Saturday to Dietrich-Smith to…who?

That player could be JC Tretter, who practiced for seven weeks as a rookie but never played.

The Packers have the next stage of free agency, the NFL draft and OTAs/minicamp to sort it all out. The Packers’ front five a year ago was tight, Bakhtiari said. He texted Dietrich-Smith when he heard the news.

Bakhtiari isn’t sure yet if Green Bay will adequately replace him. The sooner Green Bay has a set line, he notes, the better.

“It was tough,” Bakhtiari said. “But at the end of the day, we know it’s a business and I know for Evan it was the best situation for him. So I understand. I respect it. He’s a great player. He’s a student of the game. He can do it inside and out. Can we fill it? Yeah, but I don’t know yet. I haven’t seen anyone else play and mixed in with the five guys. He was a great player and I’m going to miss him.

“I know the coaches are going to put the best five out there that can play. For me, I know the quicker we can get that done, the better and we can start building down a cohesion with the five guys who go out there and play and that’s how an offensive line becomes elite.”

About Tyler Dunne Tyler Dunne covers the Green Bay Packers. He has been on the beat since 2011, winning awards with the Pro Football Writers of America and Milwaukee Press Club.

(Journal Sentinel photo by Mark Hoffman)