Getty David Bakhtiari returned to the Packers lineup on a snap count in their 14-12 win over the Buccaneers on September 25.
The Green Bay Packers emerged from a difficult road environment in Week 3 with a 14-12 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but almost as important as the win was the fact that five-time All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari made his long-awaited return to the lineup after missing 19 of their last 20 games.
Bakhtiari has spent more than 600 days working back from a complicated knee injury that began when he tore the ACL in his left knee in practice on December 31, 2020. Prior to Sunday’s win over the Buccaneers, the only other game the 30-year-old had played since then was his limited appearance in the 2021 regular-season finale against Detroit — and even that one ended with him getting shut down for the playoffs.
On Sunday, though, Bakhtiari got to take another step away from the pain and suffering of the last 21 months and get back to playing the game he loves most.
“Regardless of what was going to go on out there, I was just happy,” Bakhtiari told reporters on September 25. “The win was to get me out there and get me through it.”
Packers Held Bakhtiari to Pitch Count as Precaution
Bakhtiari played a total of 35 offensive snaps in his comeback performance against the Buccaneers, eight more than he played in his trial-run outing against the Lions at the end of the 2021 season. He also didn’t give up a sack in his return to the lineup with Aaron Rodgers only going down once in the fourth quarter.
The Packers could have tried playing Bakhtiari for the entire game, but head coach Matt LaFleur explained after the game that they felt it was better to keep him on a pitch count and rotate him with fellow left tackle Yosh Nijman — a decision that Bakhtiari ultimately accepted but was not thrilled about when it was made.
“Nope, he was not,” LaFleur said with a smirk about Bakhtiari’s reaction to the rotation. “I just thought everything around it in terms of, OK, you’re coming down here to an environment where it was … let’s face it, it’s hard to replicate what those guys had to play through today. To keep Yosh involved, Yosh has done a hell of a job all season long and even back to last year, he has done a great job. Just from a conditioning standpoint, just to keep both of those guys fresh.
“We didn’t want to go 0 to 60 with him in regards to, OK, here’s a guy who outside of that Detroit game that hasn’t played in almost two years. Do you load him up with 60 plays in a game? We didn’t think that was the right thing to do, and Yosh has done a great job as well. It’s a credit to Yosh, and who knows how we’ll go forward.”
Bakhtiari Tips Cap to Fellow LT Yosh Nijman
Bakhtiari admitted both he and the rest of his offensive linemen weren’t “the biggest fans” of going into a rotation when they got the news from LaFleur. He is a competitor who has been working hard to return to full health and wants to be as involved as he possibly can whenever he is out on the field. By the end of it, though, Bakhtiari had a rather succinct reaction to splitting the reps with Nijman
“You can’t talk about me being out there [Sunday] without Yosh,” Bakhtiari said.
Nijman has been a blessing for the Packers since they lost Bakhtiari. Initially, it appeared that Pro Bowl do-it-all lineman Elgton Jenkins would take over for Bakhtiari at left tackle when the 2021 season began, but injuries to Jenkins brought Nijman — a undrafted free agent — to the forefront and allowed him to shine in a starting role
He started eight of his 10 games for the Packers in 2021 and allowed just three sacks on the season. According to Pro Football Focus, he had also posted the sixth-best pass-blocking grade (84.7) in the NFL through the first two weeks of the new season, making it difficult for the team to outright demote him to the bench, even for an All-Pro.
“It was something that, full disclosure, we weren’t the biggest fans of, the linemen weren’t,” Bakhtiari said of the rotation with Nijman. “But give credit where credit is due. Coach stuck to his guns, he called it, we looked at each other and we said, ‘Hey, we’re going to make the most of this.’ And I think it was positive [for] both of us. And I tip my hat to Yosh. A consummate pro, watching his growth, so much appreciation for him stepping in for [what] obviously been a tumultuous time for me, and seeing him grow and flourish is [something] I’ve been very pleased with and just couldn’t be happier to have someone to work back and work with at left tackle. Like I said, sure this is a lot of awesome things coming on my end, but you can’t talk about me being out there today without Yosh.”