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While I am reticent to clog up the OL thread with Bak-talk, I feel like a few facts might be useful here
When Bak had his original surgery, they were faced with 2 choices on the repair and they opted for the less intrusive path in hopes that the larger intervention wouldn't be necessary. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. And so they had to go back in to repair the femoral condyles, which meant a lengthy rehab. He is in the final stages of that now
https://www.packers.com/news/david-bakh ... his-future
"I hate it. I know the club hates it. It's just not a great situation for anyone to deal with," Bakhtiari said. "The human side of it took a little of stress, a lot of time on my end, but the clarity is to know we finally know what the problem is, and we can address the problem. That's the, I guess, glass-half-full part of the scenario. So, that's where we're at. That's the pill I have to swallow."
Bakhtiari said doctors only extracted about 10-15% of his lateral meniscus during the initial surgery to repair his ACL, but discomfort and fluid buildup remained an issue when he played. Because of that, Bakhtiari established, and then reset, an unofficial locker-room record for having more than 160 CCs – roughly 5.4 ounces – of fluid removed from the knee this year.
He played well in the opener against Chicago but was shut down again after his knee flared up in response to his 55 snaps. Upon a consultation with team physician Dr. Pat McKenzie and specialists nationwide, it finally became clear Bakhtiari needed to address an issue with his lateral femur.
Doctors knew there was damage to the femoral condyles, the two rounded prominences at the end of the femur, when Bakhtiari's ACL injury first occurred, but there was no indication it would affect him moving forward.
"In my knee, it's basically like sandpaper where it rubs, it's just not smooth, which is creating a lot of fluid," Bakhtiari said. "I've been dealing (with) a lot of effusion for a long time, and that's where you see the constant, I'm in and then I'm out, I'm out and then I'm in. We wanted to make sure that we could address every possible way to not do it because we understood what the surgery has to be."
When asked why go through it again, Bakhtiari thought about the question for a second before speaking directly from the heart.
"Because I'm different," Bakhtiari said. "I have an unparalleled work ethic. I'm stubborn as (heck) and I'm not gonna let someone else write my story. This is me just taking control of what I need to do. When I want to look back, do I want to look at the guy who got injured and was like ah, that's good enough? If that's not me, then the future, older me is gonna be (ticked) at the younger me."
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David wants to play again, he said he wants to chase a Championship
He wants to play for a contender
He prefers to play on grass. That suggests about 6 teams: KC, BAL, PHI, MIA,SF and maybe TB. Packers fit the criteria too, seems unlikely
David talked about the money, its a non-issue. He wants to play again and he knows he won't get LT money and he's fine with that given his $120 M in career earnings. Its pretty easy to structure a deal with vet minimums and then a bunch of incentives based on snap counts, per game bonuses and other milestone-based payouts so he has upside. And the team is protected. Teams might also prefer to wait until after game 1 so his salary isn't guaranteed
From what I've read - his knee is structurally fine. Physically- he can play football.
What he couldn't do is play football 2 days in a row or 2 weeks in a row
So he went to work with this guy, Brian Cole...a world -renowned orthopedic surgeon who has pioneered several cutting edge treatments for the knee. Their hope is eliminate the abrasion/irritation/inflammation so Bak can play football, repeatedly.
https://www.briancolemd.com/brian-j-cole-md-mba/
My personal guess is Andy Reid as he chases a 3 peat. Reid's shown a willingness to take on high-risk, high-reward players in the past and the Chiefs have some uncertainty at LT going into the season.
Whatever happens with David, I wish him all the best- he's a great human and a was great Packer
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And I've looked at the OT draft positions and really weren't many guys that fit what we do on the outside available from the Hopper pick on down through the end.
