Stenavich: Bakhtiari Will Return to Elite Level

The Packers’ offensive coordinator says “there’s a lot of scenarios” on the offensive line for Sunday’s opener at the Vikings.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – If David Bakhtiari is in the Green Bay Packers’ starting lineup on Sunday at the Minnesota Vikings, it would obviously be huge if he could return to something approximating his vintage form for matchups against Za’Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter.

Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich, Bakhtiari’s position coach the previous three seasons, has much smaller immediate goals.

“You don’t want to go in there and say, ‘Hey, when you get back out there, you better be back at how you were playing in 2020 before you got hurt,’” Stenavich said after Thursday’s practice. “I want him when he gets out there, just be a great leader, have great energy and do the little things – the finishing of your blocks, good communication, all that stuff.”

Green Bay’s offensive line, at least for public consumption, is the great unknown heading into Week 1. Will Bakhtiari be back at left tackle? One of the best linemen in the NFL, he suffered a torn ACL on Dec. 31, 2020, and is on the comeback trail after three knee operations. Will Elgton Jenkins be the starting right tackle? A Pro Bowl guard in 2020, he suffered a torn ACL when the Packers visited Minneapolis in November.

“There’s a lot of different scenarios, as you guys can imagine. As of right now, no, I do not” know who will start, Stenavich said.

Assuming Stenavich is being honest, widescale uncertainty on the offensive line is not the ideal way to go into a big division showdown. Will he have his two premier offensive tackles? One? None? If Jenkins isn’t ready, Royce Newman would step out to right tackle. Newman started 16 games at right guard last season but spent training camp battling Jake Hanson at right guard.

“There’s always that challenge every week, it seems, in the NFL with not only offensive line but other positions of guys who are or are not playing,” Stenavich said. “I feel like we’ve done a good job of piecing it all together and I’m excited about Sunday.”

Naturally, Stenavich would be more excited to face the Vikings with Bakhtiari at left tackle and Jenkins at right tackle. Better still would be Bakhtiari playing like he did in his 27-snap performance at Detroit last season. Bakhtiari didn’t allow a single pressure in that game.

It seemed like a jumping-off point for the Packers to make a run to the Super Bowl. Instead, Bakhtiari was inactive for the playoff loss to the 49ers two weeks later. A third surgery had Bakhtiari finally feeling “normal” again. A “normal” Bakhtiari should lead to a “normal” performance by one of the best of his generation.

“He’ll get to that level. He’ll get back there, I have no doubt about that,” Stenavich said. “Same with Elgton. It’s just a matter of them getting out there, getting in the groove and, 10 weeks from now, hopefully we see that progress.”