The veteran left tackle [David Bakhtiari] said Wednesday during an interview on ESPN Wisconsin’s “Wilde & Tausch” that some players weren’t held accountable last season when they were late for meetings or the team’s charter flights to road games.
While Bakhtiari was reluctant to agree with Packers team president/CEO Mark Murphy’s depiction of the team showing signs of “complacency” last season under longtime head coach Mike McCarthy, the first-team All-Pro left tackle was clearly bothered by what he considered a lack of accountability.
“The one thing that always rubbed me the wrong way, and I guess it can kind of parallel with complacency, is accountability,” Bakhtiari said. “The one thing that would really grind my gears was guys being late for the plane (before road trips) and no one holding those guys accountable or even fining them for being late.
“(It should have been), ‘Hey, we’re leaving at 1:30. You’re not there, the door is closed.’ That’s how it needs to be.”
“I think anytime, if complacency is being talked about, that’s one (sign) someone’s been in a place for too long,” Bakhtiari said. “I’ve always told myself that the day I’m complacent is the day I don’t have a job. So I’m pretty sure if I don’t have a job anymore, I’ve been complacent.
“There’s a lot of things happening outside the locker room that frankly we’re not exposed to. So when things come out that X, Y, and Z have been complacent, well, I don’t know. I’m too busy making sure I’m making my meeting on time, so I’m not (considered) complacent.”
“There needs to be that fear for guys across the board that, ‘Hey, your job is consistently judged and based on having to perform. That’s the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately (reality) of the NFL,’” Bakhtiari said. “For me, the one thing I saw, guys here and there can show up a couple minutes late to the plane, meetings … and it kind of filters through. If you’re not going to hold one guy accountable to one situation, it’ll slowly trickle (down) to multiple avenues. That’s one thing that I noticed that I was not a fan of at all.
“That’s one thing I guess when I think about complacency, it also goes to holding people accountable, and that’s where I think I see it more.”
David Bakhtiari wrote: