Packers v. Vikings Final Injury Report: David Bakhtiari & Yosh Nijman will Play

Good news for the Green Bay Packers offensive line heading into their matchup with Minnesota with David Bakhtiari not having an injury designation after practicing all week, so he will play on Sunday. Bakhtiari has allowed no sacks and eight pressures in nine games this season per PFF ($$).

Yosh Nijman will be playing as well after he was on the injury report all week after exiting Sunday’s game in Miami with a shoulder injury.

This means the Packers will have their preferred five starting on the offensive line, a welcomed sight against Minnesota, who has had two of the most productive edge rushers in football this season in terms of pressures created with Za’Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter.

In Week 1, behind a makeshift offensive line that included Jake Hanson at right guard and Royce Newman at right tackle, Aaron Rodgers was under regular duress, which had a major impact on the game as he simply didn’t look very confident in the pocket. On top of that, the run game has frequently been the catalyst behind their ability to put up points as of late, and oftentimes when the Packers have had to rely solely on the passing game, they just haven’t been very effective.

Christian Watson was back on the practice field for the first time this week in a limited fashion on Friday after dealing with a hip injury. He is listed as questionable.

Watson’s big play ability has helped open up the passing game for other receivers, along with altering how opponents defend Green Bay. If you go back and watch a few games prior to Watson’s breakout game against Dallas, defenses are lined up very aggressively against the Packers.

Watson has also given the Packers the ability to score quickly, something that was missing through the first nine games of the season. As offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich recently pointed out, it’s difficult to put up a lot of points when having to string together multiple 12-plus play-scoring drives.

Keisean Nixon didn’t practice at all this week and he is listed as questionable as a result. The kick return unit certainly loses a dynamic presence that has helped provide the offense with some shorter fields to work with as of late. On defense, we saw Innis Gaines and Darnell Savage take over slot duties against the Dolphins in Nixon’s absence.

As expected, Aaron Jones is good to go, but as Matt Schneidman of The Athletic recently wrote, Jones has been dealing with injuries consistently since Week 10, and that has affected his workload and how the Packers have utilized him. It will be interesting to see how many touches he gets this week after having just eight against Miami.

For a Packers team that was lacking playmaking for much of the season, both Watson and Nixon are questionable and Jones is coming off a game where it certainly looked like he was on a snap count. Not ideal, and this is a Vikings offense that can put up points, averaging more than 25 per game this season.

Below is a look at the rest of the injury report, along with which Vikings players have designations.