The Green Bay Packers are giving left tackle David Bakhtiari the week off while he continues working his way back from surgery repairing his ACL.
Coach Matt LaFleur described the process as “unloading” the player this week, but he declined to get into any specifics on where his injured All-Pro is at in the recovery timeline.
“Dave didn’t practice today. We’re just kind of unloading him for the week,” LaFleur said Wednesday. “We’re going to continue to monitor it daily, and when he’s back, he’s back.”
LaFleur already said Bakhtiari, who tore his ACL on New Year’s Eve last year, won’t play on Saturday against the Cleveland Browns.
Pressed on whether he’s concerned about Bakhtiari returning at all this season, LaFleur mostly punted on answering the question.
“Listen, we’re taking it one day at a time. When he’s ready to go, he’ll be back in there,” LaFleur said.
It’s unclear at this point if Bakhtiari suffered another setback. He’s now roughly a year out from suffering the initial injury.
Bakhtiari practiced in a limited capacity all three days last week but didn’t play Sunday. He still hasn’t played this season, and he already suffered a setback in the process when he needed arthroscopic surgery to clean up the knee last month.
The Packers continue to take a cautious path with an elite player who just signed a massive new contract last November.
“Obviously, Dave is a great player, a Pro Bowl player, he’s one of the premier players in this league at that position. He’s doing everything he can,” LaFleur said. “Our athletic training staff is doing everything they can to get him back out there, and when the time’s right, he’ll be back out there.”
The Packers have two regular-season games after Saturday’s visit from the Browns. It’s possible Bakhtiari won’t have a chance to get back on the field until the postseason. If the Packers get the No. 1 seed in the NFC and earn a first-round bye, they wouldn’t play until the weekend of Jan. 22-23, a full month away.
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