Without Offseason Surgery, Bakhtiari Sees Bright Future

Green Bay Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari is looking forward to an offseason of training rather than rehabbing his injured knee.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari, who missed 22 of a possible 23 games spanning the end of the 2020 season and the start of the 2022 season due to a career-altering knee injury, said he “totally think(s)” he’ll enter next season with a routine of practicing every day and playing in every game.

Bakhtiari suffered a torn ACL at practice on Dec. 31, 2020. The comeback was a nightmare. It took two surgeries to get Bakhtiari on the field for the 2021 finale at Detroit, only for him to be inactive for the playoff loss against San Francisco. A third surgery this past offseason made all the difference. He made his debut in Week 3 and only missed one game due to the knee.

Three knee operations and an appendectomy meant four surgical procedures in two years. No surgeries are needed this offseason, which will allow Bakhtiari to train for the upcoming season.

“I look at the offseason as putting on your armor and then, going through a season, you get deteriorated throughout the year,” Bakhtiari said on Monday as players cleared out their lockers following Sunday’s season-ending loss against the Detroit Lions.

“I don’t have a chance to put on my armor, I'm kind of going into war unprotected so, thankfully, did a really good job talking to training room, strength staff, even bringing in people from outside, making sure I can get myself to grow, because football's not in any rehab that you do coming off of surgery.”

Bakhtiari is one of the biggest question marks as the team enters an offseason filled with uncertainty. The Packers have significant challenges looming with the salary cap and Bakhtiari has cap charges of $29.1 million in 2023 and $33.1 million in 2024. He has a $9.5 million roster bonus that’s due on the third day of the league-year in March. If the Packers released him, they could create almost $6 million of cap space, according to OverTheCap.com.

But Bakhtiari is a premium player at a premium position. Even while having spent the offseason rehabbing rather than practicing and at times only barely practicing during the regular season, Bakhtiari was pretty close to his typical form. According to Pro Football Focus, Bakhtiari didn’t allow a single sack this season. Bakhtiari and Arizona’s D.J. Humphries were the only left tackles to allow zero sacks while playing at least 250 pass-protecting snaps.

If Bakhtiari is right and his future includes “nice sunshine, no clouds,” as he put it, it would seem bringing back Bakhtiari on a restructured (not reduced) contract would be a no-brainer for general manager Brian Gutekunst.

“I still have a lot to play for,” Bakhtiari said. “I have things that I want to do both collectively for the club and personally for myself, but I understand it is, No. 1, at the end of the day, a business. I have nothing but the utmost respect for Gutey. He’s been nothing but great to me since the moment I walked in these doors since 2013, so I expect anything that comes that way, hopefully if we do cross the negative bridge that we have a conversation that happens. But that’s life. I have no ill-will but, first and foremost, I don’t expect that but, on the same end, I totally respect what happens.”

The health of Bakhtiari’s knee goes beyond football to his post-football life. As it turns out, not only did the third knee surgery provide a new lease on his football life, it provided a new lease on life in general. The dark days of injury and rehab, surgery and rehab, another surgery and more rehab, appear to be in the rearview mirror. He is bullish on all parts of his future.

“I’ve legitimately asked, ‘Am I going to have to get a knee replacement?’” Bakhtiari said. “I’ve talked to multiple doctors and they’re like, ‘No, you’re still good.’ I’m like, ‘OK.’ Obviously, if they say I need to get a knee replacement based on the health of it, that definitely changes the trajectory of what I want to do with my life. As long as I’m healthy and the green light’s still there, I’m going to take advantage of the window.”

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