Bakhtiari is perfect for two very specific reasons.
David Bakhtiari was a five-time All-Pro tackle for the Packers before he suffered a torn ACL on New Year’s Eve 2020. He played in just one game in 2021, 11 games in 2022 and then one game in 2023 before ongoing issues with the knee knocked him down again.
Like Darrisaw, Bakhtiari had more than just an ACL tear.
“Everyone knows I tore my ACL. What people don’t know is that it wasn’t an isolated tear,” Bakhtiari told Cheesehead TV in January 2022. “Any time there’s an ACL there can always be other complications. I had a little bit of my meniscus, which wasn’t a big deal. And I got a little bit of cartilage. There was a lot going on.”
What’s unclear is how severe Darrisaw’s knee injury is. Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell has confirmed that it’s an ACL and MCL injury that will require surgery, but the extent of the MCL injury is unknown.
Bakhtiari’s case may have been anomalous. His return to the field was slowed by a persistent need to drain fluid from his surgically-repaired knee. He described the fluid feeling like a “water balloon” in his knee, at one point draining more than five ounces of fluid, which Packers doctors told him was a team record
He came back in 2022 and played in 11 games. He seemed no worse for wear from a performance standpoint because he didn’t allow a sack and was charged by Pro Football Focus for only 10 QB pressures allowed all season.
Bakhtiari had an offseason without surgery was primed for big things in 2023 before more issues with his reconstructed knee developed. This time, it wasn’t his ACL or MCL. It wasn’t even cartilage. It was damage to the femoral condyles, which are two rounded bumps at the bottom of the femur that help form the knee joint. That, too, had been damaged in his initial injury on Dec. 31, 2020.
He underwent another season-ending surgery and he hasn’t played since. But he’s out there, lurking in free agency and probably itching to latch on with a contender. He said in June that he has more gas in the tank and coming to Minnesota would reunite him with his former teammate, running back Aaron Jones.
Bakhtiari is an elite, readymade option to help prevent the Vikings from dropping off without Darrisaw. Not only that, but he can help guide Darrisaw through the early part of the ACL/MCL storm. It’s a match made in heaven and the Vikings need to make the call if they haven’t already.
Bakhtiari is just one example of a premiere left tackle suffering a significant knee injury. Unlike Bakhtiari, who was 29 years old and eight seasons into his NFL career when he was injured in 2020, Darrisaw is 25 and only in his fourth season. Perhaps suffering the injury at a younger age will benefit Darrisaw.