The end of 2020 couldn’t have been worse for the Green Bay Packers after it was reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport who sustained a knee injury to David Bakhtiari’s striking left tackle David Bakhtiari in practice on Thursday that ended the season.
The Packers’ fear is that Bakhtiari has ripped his ACL and is ready for the season. Regardless, it looks like Green Bay will be entering the playoffs without one of their best players.
Bakhtiari, a four-time All-Pro squad, is arguably the best offensive lineman in the NFL and the biggest reason quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been fired just 19 times this season.
Obviously, replacing Bakhtiari is going to be difficult. After all, there’s a reason why the Packers made him the highest paid offensive lineman in NFL history just a month ago.
But the Packers have options. And one injury won’t stop them from reaching the pinnacle of all sports, as long as they have a contingency plan for Bakhtiari’s absence.
The good news is that Green Bay has a deep rotation on the offensive line, with multiple linemen logging snaps in multiple positions this season.
In fact, the Packers have two of the NFL’s most versatile linemen – Elgton Jenkins and Billy Turner – both of which have experience in left tackle.
Now in his second season, Jenkins was named to his first Pro Bowl after showing incredible versatility. He has allowed only one bag despite playing four different positions (left guard, center, left tackle and right tackle).
How good has Jenkins been? According to Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal, he is only the third Packers lineman in franchise history to be selected for a Pro Bowl in his first two seasons.
“You can tell he’s playing guard to tackle to the middle, he’s a guy who just takes up the challenge and loves the game,” said offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett last week. And he is so intelligent. He can do so much, and I think that means he can just play at a high level. “
Then there’s Turner, who, after a shaky first season with the Packers in 2019, has proven to be one of the team’s most valuable players this season.
Like Jenkins, Turner has recorded time in multiple positions. He only allowed two bags while seeing snapshots from three different positions; right tackle, right guard and left tackle.
The versatility of both Jenkins and Turner has allowed Packers’ attack to make smooth in-game adjustments without causing a lot of stutter along the way.
“Being able to go from side to side in the middle of a game isn’t necessarily the physical part,” Turner said in November.
You know that you are able to perform those actions physically, those techniques that you have been practicing for so long. It’s really just the mental aspect of saying to yourself, ‘Okay, instead of pushing with this leg, I have to push with the opposite. Instead of throwing this hand first, I have to use this hand. ”
And to keep us from forgetting that the Packers have an MVP quarterback in the middle of perhaps his best season yet. Rodgers alone is able to lead the Packers all the way to the Super Bowl.
So while the Packers will certainly miss Bakhtiari’s presence the rest of the way, the team has options to replace him. And this is arguably Green Bay’s most complete roster since 2014. The Packers Super Bowl hopes cannot be turned down because of one injury.