David Bakhtiari has in an extremely difficult situation. He is in the midst of a long term, very lucrative contract. He is also in the midst of an 18 month ACL Recovery. December 31st, 2020 David Bakhtiari tore his ACL. Late July 2022, that same injury is preventing him from being a full participant in training camp. In late July Ian Rapoport appeared on The Pat McAfee Show to discuss why the star left tackle was on the PUP list. Well today, that is no more.
Daivd Bakhtiari Activated on PUP list:
Per Matt Schniedeidamn: David Bakhtiari is coming off PUP today and will practice, Matt LaFleur says. He’ll just do individual. Matt LaFleur went on to elaborate what their plans are for Bakhtiari:
Matt LaFleur tempering expectations for David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins in early days of their return: “We can’t expect them to be at the exact same level as when they went out. That’s unrealistic. They haven’t played ball in a long time, and they’ve got to knock the rust off”
“He’s been making very good progress, and I think mentally he’s in a good place as well. He’s worked his tail off for a very long time.”
What does this mean going forward?
Obviously there is still a lot of unknowns when it comes to how close Bakhtiari is to playing in an NFL game. However, being activated off the PUP list is definitely a step in the right direction. If David Bakhtiari is able to play week 1 (unlikely) it could kick Yosh Nijman out to right tackle. Nijman played his entire senior year (2018) at RT. This would also allow Elgton Jenkins to play his true position, guard. While that is just one scenario, it shows how much one player can impact an entire offensive line. Hopefully this means we see Bakhtiari back within the first few weeks on the season.
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