Packers RT Zach Bako-Bewele Out for 2026 Season With Torn Patellar Tendon
Green Bay's right side just lost its anchor for the year. Packers right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele tore his patellar tendon and is out for the 2026 season, per Pro Football Talk, with ESPN reporting he's expected to be sidelined 8-10 months following knee surgery. The surgery hasn't happened yet.
That timeline is the optimistic end of the range, not the safe one. Patellar tendon repairs rarely move quickly, and Bako-Bewele could still be working back into form well into 2027. Green Bay is planning around a hole at right tackle for a full season.
Right tackle is the side a defense tilts toward when it wants to dictate terms, and handing that job to a backup changes what the offense can call. Protection help has to come from somewhere. Usually it comes from the tight end and the running back.
That's where this starts to matter for fantasy. Green Bay's passing game already looked labored in its season sample, with Jordan Love going 16-of-29 for 145 yards, 5.0 yards per attempt and three sacks taken for 9 yards. Tucker Kraft drew just 3 targets and caught 2 for 15. If Kraft is staying in to chip more often, those targets don't come back.
The backfield is the second squeeze point. Kaleb Johnson (8 carries), MarShawn Lloyd (6) and Chris Brooks (4) split 18 carries three ways in that same sample, and a three-man committee only functions when the front is winning its gaps. Lloyd also lost a fumble. Fewer clean lanes means fewer of those carries turn into anything.
My call: this is a modest but real downgrade for Love and the Packers' pass catchers, not a season-killer. Expect quicker throws, more max protection and a lower ceiling on downfield shots until Green Bay proves it can hold the edge with whoever replaces Bako-Bewele. Of everything on the board, Kraft's target share is the number I'd bet shrinks first.
