Packers' David Bakhtiari shares update on recovery from knee injury
Green Bay Packers offensive lineman David Bakhtiari has battled knee injuries throughout his NFL career, including last season. The two-time first-team All-Pro selection is hopeful that his knee problems are in the past.
Bakhtiari recently spoke about his health and how he is feeling ahead of the 2023 season.
“I feel really good,” Bakhtiari reportedly said, according to Pete Dougherty of PackersNews.com. “Obviously I don’t want to jinx it or oversell anything. But I think it will show up in how much I play. . . . I was just giving it everything I could to make it work for last year. It wasn’t ideal, but sometimes you’re not dealt the best hand. Now I’d say from a (knee) strength standpoint I feel very strong.”
Bakhtiari appeared in 11 games last season, after playing in only one in 2021. He has not played all 16 games in a season since 2019 as he has dealt with a torn ACL and other injuries.
Despite the injury history, it’s clear that the Packers still want Bakhtiari as a part of their organization. Green Bay GM Brian Gutekunst spoke highly of Bakhtiari.
“When he’s in there, we’re a top-notch unit,” Gutekunst said, according to Packersnews.com. “Having him out there was really important for us. Him getting into his rhythm and flow of how to get through the week and really be able to perform at his highest level on Sundays was really important for us. I think we’re over that hump, and I think he has an idea of what he needs to do week to week to get out there and perform at that level. When he’s playing like that, I think it’s just a trickle-down effect to the unit as a whole.”
Jordan Love shares state of Packers’ quarterback room
Elsewhere with the Green Bay, Jordan Love bears the responsibility of taking the Packers into the team’s next era without Aaron Rodgers. However, he wants everyone to know that he’s not the only quarterback in Green Bay.
Love commented on going through the offseason program with fellow QBs Sean Clifford and Danny Etling this week. He said that they’ve all slowly built a relationship with one another that’s founded upon competitiveness while they’re also all looking out for one another in their room.
“I think we have a great quarterback room. We’re all pretty close,” Love said. “Obviously bringing Sean in? We’ve all got close pretty quickly.”
“They’ve done a great job as well. We compete every day as a quarterback room. Doing individual drills, things like that,” said Love. “Then, obviously, we’re in the meeting and being able to watch everything and talk through it? Just hearing different things? It makes us all better.”