GREEN BAY, Wis. – Arkansas State center Jacob Bayer suffered a torn ACL in April. Less than 12 months later, after an all-conference season, he is scheduled to have a predraft visit with the Green Bay Packers.
Bayer, who made a stunning comeback from knee surgery, is scheduled to have a predraft visit with the Packers on April 8, according to his agent, Rob Sheets.
For most players, a nine-month comeback from a torn ACL is ambitious. However, a little more than five months after surgery, Bayer was in the starting lineup and played every snap against Tulsa. A week later, he was in the lineup for a showdown against powerhouse Michigan.
“I never would have thought something like that could happen,” Bayer said early in the season. “Everybody kind of gets tired of practice, tired of fall camp, tired of lifting, and that whole time I’m thinking, ‘I just want to be back. That’s all I want to do, just be back with everybody.’”
Bayer started the final 12 games of the season and was second-team all-conference. He allowed just one sack, according to Pro Football Focus.
It was perhaps an unprecedented comeback. Running back Adrian Peterson’s ACL comeback was legendary; he was injured on Christmas Eve 2011 and back on the field eight months later for the 2012 opener.
“That’s just who he is,” Red Wolves coach Butch Jones said of Bayer. “I said it, we live in a SportsCenter society. Everybody turns on SportsCenter and all they see are the highlights. What they don’t see is Jacob Bayer in the training room at 5:30 a.m., 6 a.m., coming in throughout the day for four and five appointments of rehab with the knee.
“They don’t see him staying up here on his own in the month of May while everyone else is at home. All he’s doing is coming in throughout the day and getting treatments and spending time with Eric (Ennis) in the training room. People don’t see that. All they see is the highlights, they see him on the field, but we see all the sacrifices that he’s made, not only for himself but for his teammates and the sacrifices his family has made for him to get to this point.”
Bayer was invited to the Senior Bowl – the school’s first player at the prestigious all-star game in a decade – but not the Scouting Combine.
“I think I proved I belonged with the competition in attendance,” he told The Draft Network after the Senior Bowl. “I never looked or felt overwhelmed.
“I didn’t have the best senior season compared to my 2023 campaign. I was battling through some injuries and things of that nature. I think I’ve shown I came out the other side better for it. I’m back healthy. I’ve moved past the injuries. I’m back to the player I once was.”
In 2023, Bayer was first-team all-conference and a second-team Academic All-American. He gave up five sacks in four seasons – two at FCS-level Lamar and the last two at Arkansas State. All 2,966 career snaps came at center, and he added another 40 during the Senior Bowl game.
The Packers have an opportunity at center. While left guard Elgton Jenkins will replace Josh Myers at center, the only other centers on the roster are Jacob Monk, a fifth-round pick last year who didn’t play any snaps on offense, and Trey Hill, a sixth-round pick by the Bengals in 2021 who started three games as a rookie but has played in only one game the last two years.
Bayer is considered a late-round prospect.
As part of a much more detailed scouting report from The Draft Network, “Bayer has tree-trunk legs and moves well laterally, as evident in the various run schemes he executed at Arkansas State. Bayer won’t wow you from an athletic standpoint … (but) his fundamentals and footwork carry him a long way.”
This left tackle who didn't play football in high school will have a predraft visit with the #Packers next month. https://t.co/h65O8p4Ucy
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) March 26, 2025