Bakhtiari Optimistic for More Than Week 1
GREEN BAY, Wis. – With David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins, the Green Bay Packers have an elite pair of pass protectors. When they’re healthy.
With Za’Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter, the Minnesota Vikings have an elite pair of pass rushers. When they’re healthy.
All four players could be on the field when the Packers face the Vikings in Sunday’s season-opening game in Minneapolis.
Given the power of Smith and Hunter, getting Bakhtiari and Jenkins on the field would be huge for a Packers offense in transition. They practiced on Monday and could be in the starting lineup for the 124th edition of the border battle.
Bakhtiari, the five-time All-Pro left tackle, has been doing 11-on-11 drills since training camp ended, he said after Monday’s practice. Does that mean he’s on track to play after missing almost all of last season, including the playoff loss to San Francisco?
“Yeah, I mean, I’m on the active [roster] just like anyone else," Bakhtiari told ESPN.com.
Bakhtiari suffered a torn ACL at practice on Dec. 31, 2020. The injury perhaps cost the Packers a trip to the Super Bowl; they allowed five sacks in a five-point loss to the Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game a few weeks later. The injury, and complications during the comeback, limited him to one 27-snap performance in Week 18 at Detroit. Two weeks later, he was inactive for the playoffs.
He had a third procedure during the offseason. That one, which had Bakhtiari feeling “normal” again, might have gotten the 30-year-old over the hump.
“I can get through the season,” Bakhtiari said. “It’s going to be fine. You have to just manage while playing.
“I’m just getting back in the swing of things. So, I mean, I think there’s normal rust and then new normal with three surgeries, so just kind of working that out and figuring out what my routine is.”
Jenkins, meanwhile, is coming back from a torn ACL sustained at Minnesota in November. A Pro Bowl guard in 2020, he was a standout at left tackle last year and is in line to start at right tackle this season. If he and Bakhtiari are together on Sunday, the Packers will have a chance to give Aaron Rodgers time to survey what appears to be a weak Vikings secondary.
Smith had a total of 26 sacks for the Packers in 2019 and 2020 but missed almost all of last season with a back injury and was released in a cap-saving move this offseason. He was on his way back home to Baltimore, the team that drafted him, before landing with Green Bay’s bitter rival.
“Very excited, man,” Smith told Vikings beat reporters on Monday. “I've been preparing for this time to come for a while now, so it’s finally come and now I'm ready.”
Hunter, meanwhile, had 14.5 sacks in 2018 and 14.5 sacks in 2019 but missed all of 2020 following back surgery. He had six sacks in the first seven games of last season before suffering a torn pectoral.
For the Packers, only receiver Allen Lazard did not practice on Monday. The nature of the injury is unknown; the Packers will have to produce an injury report on Wednesday.
“Allen’s doing better, but we’ll see as the week progresses where he’s at,” coach Matt LaFleur said before practice.
