After Aaron Rodgers went down on his first series with a torn achilles, Packers offensive tackle David Bakhtiari has been one of the most vocal players about the importance of playing on grass over turf.

Right after Rodgers' injury, Bakhtiari said, “In my honest opinion, I think on grass–I think you could have had a different outcome. You could. I'm not eluding that it 100 percent would have or wouldn't have, but I would have rather seen it on grass and then just chalked it up to, ‘That's football.' Because, right now, there's another variable,” per Ryan Wood of USA Today.

Since several of his comments, some began to speculate that he missed the game versus the Atlanta Falcons because he didn't want to play on the turf. However, Bakhtiari has been clear that he was out due to knee issues, not turf.

David Bakhtiari said, “If I wasn't going to play on turf, I'd probably make more a ruckus … No, that was not the reason at all. If it was going to be, it would definitely be something different, but no, I clearly I have an injury I've been dealing with,” via The Athletic's Matt Schneidman. 

Bakhtiari has been dealing with knee issues since tearing his ACL during practice in December of 2020. He missed most of the 2021 season before briefly late in the season. He has had three knee surgeries since 2021 and did not play the full 2022 season. Still, the Packers will hope to get him back because when healthy, Bakhtiari has been an All-Pro tackle.