GREEN BAY — Adam Stenavich may not have a dishonest bone in his body. The Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator definitely doesn’t have much of a filter, so when he speaks — including Tuesday about the current state of the offensive line — he’s more than likely telling the truth.
So unless the man they call “Steno” was engaging in some next-level subterfuge, the Packers really don’t know whether their two most-experienced offensive linemen — right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele and left guard Aaron Banks — will play the entirety of Sunday’s regular-season opener at Minnesota, need to rotate with their backups or not play at all.
One day after head coach Matt LaFleur delivered a “we’ll see” when asked about Bako-Bewele’s and Banks’ status for Sunday, Stenavich was similarly unsure.
“Well, no,” Stenavich replied when asked if he knew what he’d have on the offensive line against the Vikings and ultra-aggressive defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ scheme. “As far as who’s going to be starting and things like that, it’s still a work in progress unfortunately with the injury situations to Banks and Zach.
“Yeah, we have plans for everything and we’re going to make the best of it, whoever’s out there. We’re just going to focus on our playstyle, doing a great job communicating and going and playing our brand of football.
“So, we have our plans and we’ll just kind of roll with the punches like we always do.”
Bako-Bewele suffered a season-ending partially torn patellar tendon in his right knee during a Dec. 14 loss at Denver — the same game in which first-team All-Pro edge rusher tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and was lost for the year.
Banks, meanwhile, battled knee tendinitis throughout camp after battling a myriad of injuries in his first season with the team in 2025.
Neither player took a full single-day complement of first-team 11-on-11 snaps all summer long in training camp, so it’s hard to know whether either of them is capable of handling a full regular-season game’s worth of work.
Asked if he might have to rotate Bako-Bewele with backup Anthony Belton) and/or Banks with rookie fifth-round pick Jager Burton, LaFleur replied, “I think all things are on the table. Until we consistently seem them out there, you’d be dumb as a coach not to have a contingency plan for that. So that certainly is a potential [option].”
Bako-Bewele’s status is concerning since he set opening day as his goal from the very beginning of his rehabilitation. The tear in his patellar tendon was not a complete tear but instead only a partial one, which meant the surgery removed the damaged tissue to allow the tendon to heal itself.
“You’ve just got to rebuild the tissue, that’s really the main thing,” he said in June. “As you recover, it kind of heals back on his own.”
Now, his status is up in the air, not to mention whether he’ll look like his pre-injury self.
“I expect to see it on Sunday, but we’re still kind of going through that whole process,” Stenavich said. “I think if he’s out there, he’s going to be playing at a high level. So hopefully we get that.
Asked if he thinks Bako-Bewele can play a full game, Stenavich replied, “I’m hopeful when he tells us he’s good to that he’s good to go for the entire game, yeah. That’s the plan, anyways.”