The Green Bay Packers have lost one of their brightest offensive stars to a season-ending injury ahead of Week 3’s matchup with the Atlanta Falcons.
According to The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman, Packers star right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele told reporters Tuesday that he “fully tore” the patellar tendon in his right knee during Week 2’s win over the New York Jets and will miss the rest of the 2026 season.
“He’s getting surgery on Thursday and faces a nine-month recovery,” Schneidman wrote Tuesday on X. “Same knee as the one he partially tore the patellar tendon in last December. [He] didn’t blame it on coming back too soon. Did say [the] turf didn’t help.”
Bako-Bewele injured his knee on the third play of the Packers’ opening drive against the Jets, leaving the field on a medical cart and missing the rest of the game. Afterward, head coach Matt LaFleur implied the worst for his $88 million star offensive lineman.
“That doesn’t look good,” LaFleur said. “I think he could be out for a long time.”
The Packers will now expectedly place Bako-Bewele on the injured reserve list in the coming days. They might even make the roster move on Tuesday; though, the NFL does not publish its daily transactions list until after 4 p.m. ET most afternoons.
Who Will Replace Zach Bako-Bewele for Packers?
The Packers must now adjust to not having their top offensive lineman available for the rest of the season. Figuring out a new plan at right tackle is not as simple as plug-and-play, though.
The next man up behind Bako-Bewele — who signed a four-year, $88 million extension in July 2025 — is Anthony Belton, a 2025 second-round pick who has yet to live up to his potential for the Packers.
Belton played 56 snaps at right tackle in relief of Bako-Bewele in the win over the Jets, allowing just one quarterback hurry but drawing two holding penalties that contributed to a flag-heavy night for the Packers. His inexperience also continued to show, though, even as he displayed some promise as a run-blocker in the overtime victory.
Regardless, Belton cannot be the only solution for the Packers. Even if they trust him to take over as the starter and work through his growing pains, they need more depth behind him at their tackle positions. Entering Week 3, John Williams (0 career offensive snaps) and Travis Glover (13 career offensive snaps) are their only backup tackles, and that simply won’t cut it.
Don’t be surprised if that depth concern pushes the Packers into free agency — or perhaps even the trade market in a few weeks if they find that Belton is not performing to their standards.
Packers Must Now Fix OL Issues Without Top Lineman
Normally, the loss of a starter is bad enough. For the Packers, though, losing Bako-Bewele only compounds the offensive line issues they have experienced over the first two weeks of the season.
The Packers were in a depth criss across the board in Week 2’s narrow win over the Jets. Not only did they have to swap out Bako-Bewele for Belton early on, but they also had to work down to their third-string left guard — rookie Jager Burton — after injuries to Aaron Banks and Donovan Jennings.
Right guard Jacob Monk also briefly left the game, which LaFleur admitted afterward caused them to consider playing star tight end Tucker Kraft at one of their offensive line positions out of desperation.
The problems might be more manageable if the Packers were getting consistently good play out of their offensive line when its core is healthy, but the struggles have impacted nearly every one of their linemen, especially former first-round pick and new left tackle Jordan Morgan. He has allowed six pressures, three hits and one sack and committed four penalties in his first two starts.
The clock is ticking for the Packers to find solutions.
Packers’ $88 Million Star Announces Season-Ending Injury Before Week 3