Yosuah Nijman is heading back to Green Bay. The offensive tackle has signed his exclusive rights free agent tender, reports ESPN’s Rob Demovsky (via Twitter).
The ERFA tender is a non-guaranteed, one-year deal worth $780K, which is the league minimum for a player with one season of experience.
The Virginia Tech product went undrafted during the 2019 draft, but he quickly caught on with the Packers. He spent time on the practice squad and active roster during his rookie season, but he didn’t see the field for a regular-season game. The lineman managed to get into all 16 games in 2020, although most of his playing time came on special teams; Nijman was limited to only 14 offensive snaps last season.
The 25-year-old has a chance to take on a larger role in 2021. As Demovsky notes, Nijman could be called upon to start in place of David Bakhtiari, who’s been named to an All-Pro team in each of the past five seasons. The veteran’s 2020 season was cut short by a torn ACL, but Bakhtiari is apparently ahead of schedule and could even be ready for the start of next season.
Wow. I consider myself a fan, and I honestly cannot remember hearing this dude’s name??? No way that translates into taking over for Bak! C’mon!