Report: Packers LT David Bakhtiari had another knee surgery, could be back late in season
Green Bay Packers tackle David Bakhtiari has spent the last 11 months recovering from a torn ACL and surgery to reconstruct his knee, and while there was some optimism that he could be back soon, he's not quite ready yet.
NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported on Tuesday that Bakhtiari "recently" had another surgery on his knee, but could be back late in the season.
#Packers All-Pro LT David Bakhtiari had arthroscopic surgery recently to clean up the knee that was reconstructed back in January, sources tell me and @mikegarafolo. Bakhtiari won’t practice or play again this week, but there’s optimism he’ll be back for the stretch run.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 23, 2021
The best news came from Mike Garofalo, who reported that Bakhtiari is feeling "much better" after his knee procedure and could be good to go in December.
David Bakhtiari is feeling much better after the procedure. Hope on the #Packers’ end is he continues to improve through the bye and is back and ready to roll in December, which fits @RapSheet’s recent timeline. https://t.co/2nGOfPUYG9
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) November 23, 2021
Bakhtiari's practice window opened up in late October, and the Packers activated him from the physically unable to perform list on Nov. 10. However, he missed a number of practices last week and there hadn't been any word on his status. Now we know why: He needed another surgery to clean out his knee.
Bakhtiari coming back in the next few weeks is perfect timing for the Packers. When he went down in Dec. 2020, Elgton Jenkins stepped up and has started in his place ever since (save for a few games Jenkins was out due to an ankle injury). Jenkins has been a great replacement, but now they're without him too. He tore his ACL in Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings and is out for the rest of the season.
All reports point to Bakhtiari being back in December, after the Packers' Week 13 bye. If that holds, Green Bay will have to find a solution for their Week 12 game against the Los Angeles Rams. At this point, it seems like it'll be Yosh Nijman, their third-string option.