Former teammate Bakhtiari goes off on NFL after Rodgers injury

David Bakhtiari, left, and Aaron Rodgers. Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Former teammate David Bakhtiari goes off on NFL after Aaron Rodgers injury

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated 9/12/23

It came and it went in the blink of an eye. Aaron Rodgers' first official appearance as a member of the New York Jets lasted four offensive plays before he had to be carted off the field with a torn Achilles.

Rodgers' future in New York, let alone in the NFL, is certainly up in the air, but his former teammate and (still) current good friend, David Bakhtiari, wasted no time flaming the NFL.

Rodgers' longtime left tackle didn't even wait to see what the long-term prognosis is before launching into a rant on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

WTF!!!! That injury is TURF related. Can we put an end to this shit already.
— David Bakhtiari (@DavidBakhtiari) September 12, 2023

Congrats @nfl. How many more players have to get hurt on ARTIFICIAL TURF??! You care more about soccer players than us. You plan to remove all artificial turf for the World Cup coming up. So clearly it’s feasible.
I’m sick of this..Do better!
— David Bakhtiari (@DavidBakhtiari) September 12, 2023

Bakhtiari was well-known to be Rodgers' best friend in Green Bay so it's not surprising to see him frustrated and upset that his friend went down with a torn Achilles, ending his season before it even really got started.

Bakhtiari also has a longtime injury history, which certainly fuels his anger in this instance. He tore his ACL in practice in December 2020, and the injury is still keeping him out of practices almost three years later.

He has recovered, but it has been a long road.

It's worth noting that Bakhtiari may also have a legitimate bone to pick with the NFL. NFL stadiums hosting the World Cup in 2026 will be switching to natural grass in order to meet World Cup standards.

If it's good enough for soccer, why not for the NFL?

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