David Bakhtiari is a Green Bay Packer no more. The team cut ties with the former five-time All-Pro earlier this offseason after 11 years. The former franchise cornerstone hopped on ESPN Wisconsin’s Wilde & Tausch last week to chat about his knee issues and what led to the parting of ways for himself and the Packers.

Here is what he had to say about possibly handling the last few years a little differently if he got a second chance:

“If we had to do it again, it (doing his most recent surgery the first time around) probably would’ve saved us two years of trying to work around something.”

It is no secret that Bakhtiari’s 2020 ACL injury was the start of a very difficult three-season stretch to end his Green Bay career. He would go on to play in just 13 games from 2021 to 2023. It quite possibly cost the Packers a chance at a Super Bowl or two. That is how unfortunate it was.

Again, he wishes he had done his latest surgery after he tore his ACL back in 2020. He wouldn’t get into the specifics of the surgery in the interview other than it helped repair some of his knee cartilage.

The bottom line is that one of the league’s best offensive linemen was, for now, robbed of possibly a Super Bowl ring or two and a gold jacket because of an unfortunate injury that set off a bad chain reaction. Now, Bakhtiari still plans on playing in 2024. The hope is that he can regain his once-elite form and push on for that Super Bowl ring and gold jacket. Perhaps his old friend Aaron Rodgers and the Jets might come calling. Or, maybe his former head coach in Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys, who just lost All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith, might give him a ring.