Just 10 days after making the surprising decision to cut veteran left guard Josh Sitton, the Packers gave a large contract extension to the up-and-comer beside whom he used to block.

Green Bay announced Tuesday it had signed left tackle David Bakhtiari to a new four-year deal, though the team did not release financial terms. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported it’s worth up to $51.67 million and averages $12 million a season, which would make Bakhtiari one of the top five highest-paid offensive linemen in the league. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the 24-year-old has about $17 million guaranteed.

A fourth-round pick in 2013 out of Colorado, Bakhtiari stepped in to replace an injured Bryan Bulaga at left tackle as a rookie and then never relinquished the job. He’s started 47 of a possible 49 regular-season games – missing his first two contests and then a playoff game last year – and has been not only a dependably healthy player, but an improving run blocker and an excellent pass protector. As the blindside defender for quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Bakhtiari is crucial to Green Bay’s offensive success, and he’s gotten better every season.

Bakhtiari, who turns 25 on Sept. 30, will earn a base salary of $1.67 million in 2016 before his new contract goes into effect.

The news comes as confusion and speculation continue to swirl around the cutting of Sitton, a 30-year-old three-time Pro Bowler who’d started 110 of 112 regular-season games for the Packers. Head coach Mike McCarthy said "a lot of things" went into the decision but declined to specify them, other than to allude to possible locker-room issues. The outspoken Sitton, entering the final year of his deal, was apparently unhappy that the team refused to negotiate new contracts with him and fellow veteran guard T.J. Lang before addressing its younger players. There have also been rumors of a controversial incident with a teammate, though Lang and others haven’t suggested anything of the sort, seemingly genuinely shocked and saddened by the move.

Sitton was immediately signed by the rival Chicago Bears to a three-year contract worth $21.75 million, with $10 million guaranteed. He was replaced at left guard by fourth-year man Lane Taylor, who performed admirably in the Packers’ win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. It’s possible Bakhtiari’s re-signing was done at this time in an attempt by Green Bay to move the narrative forward and improve organizational optics after Sitton’s release.

As the 109th overall draft pick in 2013 who seized his initial opportunity and never let it go, the hardworking Bakhtiari has not taken the same path as many left tackles that rise to the top of the league at the position, which is highly valued and often highly drafted. Listed at 6-foot-4 and 310 pounds, Bakhtiari is an athletic, aggressive attacker on the edge of the line who has added weight and improved his strength. In Green Bay’s dynamic offensive system, his quickness and movement in space are more highly prized than they might be on other teams that prioritize prototypical size.

The first rookie in franchise history to start every game at left tackle, Bakhtiari was named a Pro Bowl alternate in 2014 after again starting all 16 games for an offense that ranked No. 1 in the NFL in points. The only lineman with more starts over the past four years is Lang, one of three remaining free agents on Green Bay’s offensive line.

The Packers’ modus operandi is to give extensions to their own young talent before it reaches free agency, and general manager Ted Thompson has a proven track record of signing promising players to early contracts that eventually become bargains when guys outperform them.

Green Bay has 10 players who will be free agents in 2017. Here is a ranking of which ones should be re-signed before next season, in order from least to most important.

10. Julius Peppers

Does anyone really believe the 36-year-old Peppers will be back for a 16th season in 2017? His three-year contract has basically been a season-to-season assessment since he came to Green Bay in 2014. In Jacksonville on Sunday, the nine-time Pro Bowler played just 29 of the Packers’ 72 defensive snaps – part of the plan to limit his workload in hopes of preserving him – and he barely made an impact. Peppers has been incredibly durable, missing only two games since 2003, but his advanced age, reduced role, declining production and the headache of being called into the commissioner’s office in August for an investigation into possible PED use probably won’t have either side eager for his return next year.

9. Brett Goode

The 31-year-old long snapper has been with the Packers since 2008 and is a close friend of kicker Mason Crosby, who inked a new four-year deal this past offseason. After tearing his ACL last December, Goode came back from knee surgery and re-signed with Green Bay on Sept. 5 for $885,000. Assuming he moves and plays well, which for a long snapper means being healthy and mistake-free, he should be retained at a low-profile position that values dependability and familiarity with the other specialists.

8. Don Barclay

If Barclay is your seventh or eighth lineman, a jack-of-all-trades utility man that can fill in adequately at multiple positions in a pinch, that’s ideal. Unfortunately for the Packers, it hasn’t been an ideal world on the offensive line, as Barclay has made 23 starts the past four seasons, often serving as the No. 5 or 6 guy in the group. After missing all of 2014 with a knee injury, he struggled mightily last year. Barclay can play tackle, guard and, after this past training camp, center and is undeniably tough; at 27, he’s useful enough to bring back on the cheap after taking care of others following the season.

7. Datone Jones

The 2013 first-round pick has yet to prove he’s a difference-maker in the NFL. After three mild years as a 3-4 defensive end (eight total sacks), Jones was moved to a hybrid outside linebacker position this offseason. He said all the right things, lost about 20 pounds and his coaches praised the switch, but in the Packers’ scheme and with their linebacker personnel, one-dimensional edge rushers that only play on passing downs just aren’t very valuable. However, should Jones, 26, show he can play the run and consistently hold things down, he’s worthy of another contract – just no longer with that first-round pedigree.

6. Eddie Lacy

In shape, motivated and at his best, Lacy is one of the top running backs in the NFL, a powerful and remarkably elusive first-down machine who’s also a capable receiver. But when he’s not at his best, like last season, Lacy is a mediocre, replacement-level back; in 15 games in 2015, he rushed for just 758 yards, 20th in the league, and had as many fumbles (3) as touchdowns. Much was celebrated about his offseason workout regimen, and his 28-yard gain against Jacksonville was encouraging – it took him until Week 12 to have a run that long last year. But do the Packers trust him to stay fit? Is the RB-rich 2017 Draft too enticing to bring back a 26-year-old? If he stays healthy, runs hard and surpasses the 1,000-yard mark, the well-liked Lacy could be rewarded with a short-term deal from Green Bay.

5. Jared Cook

Playing on the definition of a show-me contract – one year, $2.75 million – Cook was the exceptional free agent signed by Thompson, who hopes the athletic tight end becomes the big-play weapon the team has missed since Jermichael Finley was in Green Bay. Cook played with 11 different quarterbacks in seven seasons with the Titans and Rams, and expectations for him connecting with Rodgers are sky high. He only had one catch on two targets (also drew a pass interference penalty) in the opener against the Jaguars; should his productivity match the potential, the 29-year-old Cook surely will be re-signed by the man who took that rare risk on him.

4. Micah Hyde

Other than the occasional highlight-reel, backhanded interception, Hyde is not flashy. He’s not all that fast and is more apt to make the right play than the huge play. But he’s invaluable as an extra defensive back, a versatile and intuitive key cog for a team that plays as much nickel as Green Bay does. He’s averaged 56 tackles a year, has eight turnover plays in three seasons and is a vital organizing voice in the secondary. It may surprise some Packers fans when the 25-year-old safety/cornerback is re-signed, but it really shouldn’t.

3. JC Tretter

Another versatile lineman, Tretter is more talented than Barclay with higher upside. His biggest problem has been health, having missed 24 games in three seasons. Drafted in the fourth round in 2013 to be the Packers’ center, Tretter got hurt early on and lost that job to Corey Linsley, who held onto it until suffering his own injury this year and is now on the physically unable to perform list. Athletic and smart, the 25-year-old Tretter is back there again with a chance to show he’s at least a valuable lineman and potentially Green Bay’s starting center. All he has to do is stay on the field.

2. Nick Perry

Once considered a first-round bust, Perry was signed to a one-year, $5 million deal during the offseason as a final chance to show the Packers he still has something to offer. In only two playoff games last year, Perry was a monster, recording 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble; he actually has six sacks in five career postseason games. After playing 29 of 32 regular-season games the last two years, there are fewer concerns about his health, but Perry needs to produce consistently what he flashes occasionally. Against the Jaguars, he was an impact defender, with two tackles for loss, including a sack. Assuming Peppers retires, Perry will likely remain the Packers’ three-down outside linebacker.

1. T.J. Lang

Even though the Packers reportedly told both Sitton and Lang they wouldn’t negotiate new contracts for them during the season, Green Bay has to re-sign its veteran right guard. The emotional heart of the offensive line who has started 48 of the last 49 games, Lang, at 28 years old, has shown no signs of decline and is all the more important now with Sitton gone. The 6-foot-4, 318-pounder is strong and fierce, the Packers’ best run blocker and highly respected by Rodgers. As Lang said last week after Sitton, his close friend, was released, "Nothing's changed. Just go out and play football and try to focus on being the best teammate, the best leader and a great locker room guy, and just continue to get better." If he does all that, he’ll be back in Green Bay. Maybe.