Will Packers’ David Bakhtiari miss significant portion of 2021 season?

The Green Bay Packers looked to be heading into last year’s playoffs extremely healthy. That is, until David Bakhtiari went down with a surprise ACL tear in practice.

On December 31st, 2020, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport shocked the NFL world when he announced Bakhtiari went down in practice with a season-ending knee injury that was believed to be a torn ACL. It was indeed later confirmed to be a nightmare scenario and an ACL tear for the All-Pro.

Bakhtiari established himself as one of the most trustworthy left tackles in the entire NFL. The Packers were able to put him on an island game after game and let him shut down the opposing team’s best pass-rusher. It’s safe to say he made life much easier for the Packers’ offense.

There’s not yet a clear timeline established for Green Bay Packers’ starting left tackle David Bakhtiari to return from his ACL injury.

Although an ACL tear isn’t the same career-threatening injury it once was, timelines for recovery can be all over the board with some players even recovering as early as nine months. Even if we use nine months as a best-case scenario, that would put Bakhtiari at a September return–the Packers’ first regular-season game is September 12th.

However, signs may be pointing toward the year recovery mark.

In a recent appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Bakhtiari shared, “I’m about at the halfway point” when it comes to his recovery. Although he went on to talk about how excited and encouraged he is about his progress, that could put him at risk of missing a significant portion of the 2021 season.

If we take the date he got injured–December 31st, 2020–and the date he said he’s about at the halfway point as the actual halfway point–June 14th, 2021–that means he would be fully recovered by November 26th, 2021. That puts him as missing the Packers’ first 11 games of the season and returning for their November 28th contest against the Los Angeles Rams.

Before that comment by Bakhtiari, I don’t think anyone was expecting him to be out nearly that long, and there may have even been optimism he could return for the start of the season. There’s still a long summer and road to recovery ahead of him and maybe Bakhtiari will be ready well before the end of November. However, that comment should spark concern amongst fans.

If Bakhtiari can’t go, it’s immediately unclear who will take over as the starting left tackle.

Green Bay could go with Billy Turner–the man they turned to in the postseason last year–but they don’t have an established right tackle as they did in Rick Wagner last season. Besides, Turner was inconsistent last year and Green Bay may not want to put that type of player on Rodgers’ blind side.

Elgton Jenkins is the other logical option. He’s dominated no matter where he’s lined up on the field and would probably hold up better than Turner. In addition, Green Bay has higher quality options to replace him at left guard than they would on the outside.

Time will tell exactly when Bakhtiari is ready to return and you know Green Bay will be conservative with him. However, it’s worth keeping an eye on his progress because a late November return would be a huge blow for the Packers.