Packers Activate Bakhtiari from PUP

For All-Pro David Bakhtiari, the next step in his full return from an injury sustained 598 days ago will begin with individual drills on Sunday.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers activated five-time All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari from the physically unable to perform list on Sunday.

Coach Matt LaFleur announced the move before Sunday’s practice. In doing so, he hit the brakes on expectations while emphasizing that it’s merely a step along the road of Bakhtiari’s comeback. This next phase will begin with individual drills with and against other offensive linemen.

“We’re going to take it a day at a time,” LaFleur said. “There’s no thought as far as Week 1 is concerned right now. We just want to see how he responds and when he’s ready he’s ready.”

Nonetheless, there’s no denying it is a huge step.

Bakhtiari suffered a torn ACL on New Year’s Eve 2020. His on-again, off-again comeback included a follow-up procedure, a 23-snap debut against the Lions in the finale, a spot on the inactives list for the season-ending playoff loss two weeks later and another offseason surgery.

Now, 598 days after the initial injury, there’s at least some cautious optimism that one of the best blockers in the NFL will finally restart a career that had been on a Hall of Fame trajectory until he went down at a practice before a late-season game against the Titans.

With Elgton Jenkins a week into his on-the-field return from his torn ACL, Green Bay’s offensive line outlook has improved infinitely over the course of the last eight days.

“You’re talking about two guys that are All-Pro players,” LaFleur said. “And I think also whenever they do come back, I do think there’s probably going to be, we can’t expect them to be at the exact same level as when they went out. I just think that’s a little unrealistic. These guys haven’t played ball in a long time. You’ve got to knock the rust off. And they’re going to have to work through some things.

“But, certainly, they know how to play the game, they know what to expect when they go out there. Just their ability to communicate and see things, their experience speaks for itself. So, I do think there’s going to be a ton of benefit to when we can get them out there. If you had a crystal ball and you knew exactly when that would be, it definitely makes it a lot easier from a game-plan purpose. It is hard when you’re projecting, at times, when guys could not be back there with you.”

Speaking at the start of training camp on July 27, Bakhtiari wouldn’t put a date on his return but there was an obvious level of optimism in his voice.

“When I'm ready, I'll be out there,” he said. “What I can say is I do feel really good. I really like – I feel normal. My knee feels normal, and that's the biggest plus. Now it's just getting that normal feeling again when I play football. So, that's what it is: the load, stress, strength, but we're not really in an ACL issue. That's actually been a long time ago that we put that chapter to bed. It's just there's other issues.”

Had Bakhtiari finished training camp on PUP, would have been eligible to start the regular season on PUP. That would have meant he’d miss the first four games – and probably more, since he’d presumably need more than a few practices to get ready to play in a game. By being on the roster now, the PUP option is off the table. The best-case scenario is he’ll be in the starting lineup at Minnesota in Week 1. The worst-case scenario is Bakhtiari will be on the 53-man roster on Aug. 30 but be placed on injured reserve on Aug. 31. As is the case with PUP, that would put Bakhtiari on the shelf for four weeks.

“He’s been making really good progress, and I think mentally he’s in a very good place, as well,” LaFleur said. “And he’s worked his tail off for a long time now to get to this point. As far as making the decision, I got a text a little bit ago that he was coming off, so I was pretty excited about that.”