With the offensive line coming off a rough opener, the Packers are ready to spend the week sorting out the pieces in front of Jordan Love - and that includes a fresh look at Anthony Belton at guard.
Green Bay moved Belton to tackle in the middle of training camp as protection in case Zach Bako-Bewele wasn’t ready to go in Week 1. That caution is no longer as necessary. Bako-Bewele, who had offseason surgery to repair a partially torn patellar tendon in his knee, returned from the physically-unable-to-perform list and handled all 68 snaps in the season-opening loss at Minnesota.
He wasn’t perfect, and neither was the line around him, but offensive coordinator Adm Stenavich said the Packers see room for growth as Bako-Bewele gets more work.
“I thought coming back, dealing with what he’s been dealing with, it was a plus,” Stenavich said. “He hadn’t gotten a lot of reps in practice and things like that.
He made it through the game, he battled. Was it his best game?
No, but I think there’s a lot he can build on, and I expect him as this season rolls through to be playing some pretty high-level ball pretty soon.”
That matters because Green Bay wants to settle on its five best linemen instead of constantly managing around depth concerns. Belton, a second-round pick last year, took over as the starting right guard in Week 13 and kept the job the rest of the way. He entered this season expected to open there again before the Packers shifted him to tackle as a contingency plan for Bako-Bewele.
Now the team is prepared to revisit that setup.
“We’re going to keep working that this week,” Stenavich said, “with Zach kind of more situated at tackle. We’re going to kind of rotate a few guys and just see what our best combination is, for sure.”
The need for answers was obvious after Minnesota. Love was hit 15 times officially and sacked four times, but Stenavich said the Packers’ internal count was even worse: 18 hits. That kind of night left the offense dodging disaster as much as defenders.
Stenavich said he isn’t ready to panic, but the message was clear - the line has to be better, and fast.
The Packers were also working around Aaron Banks’ injury in Minnesota, which pushed Donovan Jennings into the starting job at left guard even though rookie Jager Burton had taken most of the first-team reps there in camp. Jacob Monk started at right guard, where he had spent most of training camp, while the other guard spot was sorted out late in the process.
“Just going through practice and evaluating the last few weeks,” Stenavich said, “we felt that Donovan was doing a better job in practice and things like that. They both played pretty well in the preseason, and I think just the accumulation of what happened over the last few weeks in practice, we just felt at this time more comfortable with Donovan playing.”
Beyond the guards, Stenavich said left tackle Jordan Morgan can be better than he was in Week 1 and expects improvement as Morgan gets more comfortable on the blindside. At this point, center Sean Rhyan is the only established starter among the group.
For the Packers, the search is still on.
“It’s not good enough,” Stenavich said. “That’s not the standard.
That’s not what we’re going to be about. We’ve got to be better.”
In Other News...
Packers First Injury Report Leaves One Early Concern For Jets Week
After a season-opening loss, the Packers got back to work with an early injury report that was relatively clean, but not entirely carefree. Defensive tackle Warren Brinson was the only player absent from practice because of a calf injury, leaving Green Bay with one immediate health note to track as it shifts attention to a Week 2 meeting with the Jets.
Elsewhere on the field, Aaron Banks, Zach Bako-Bewele, Brandon Cisse and TyRon Hopper were all back in practice in some capacity as the team sorted through various recovery timelines and availability questions. For a Packers group trying to steady itself quickly after Week 1, the bigger concern right now is less about the full roster picture and more about whether Brinsons absence turns into something more than an early-week blip. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Suddenly Have A Jordan Love Problem They Can't Ignore
After a rough Week 1 loss to the Vikings, the Packers found themselves staring at an issue they hoped would not linger into September: protection for Jordan Love. Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said he is not overly concerned by the offensive lines performance, even though the unit gave up a troubling number of unblocked pressures and sacks and left Love dealing with far too much heat in the pocket.
The bigger concern is whether Green Bay can sort through the mess quickly enough before it starts to affect everything else in the offense. Several linemen graded poorly in pass protection, and the Packers are expected to keep experimenting with different combinations up front as they try to settle on something that gives Love a cleaner launch point and a little more confidence moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Defense Suddenly Faces A New Concern On Short Week
The Packers injury picture got a little murkier this week, and not in a way anyone around the building would have wanted. Green Bays latest report added new concussion designations for Javon Hargrave and Lukas Van Ness, even though neither was reported to have concussion symptoms during or right after the previous game. On a short week, any fresh concern on defense tends to draw attention quickly, especially when the team is already sorting through several other limited and non-participating players at practice.
For a Packers defense trying to stay on schedule, the timing adds another layer of uncertainty as preparation shifts toward the next game. The team will keep monitoring those situations in the coming days, while the Jets are also dealing with a list of injuries that could keep multiple players out of their next matchup. For Green Bay, the immediate focus is less on the opponents availability than on whether two key defenders can get cleared in time. [Read more 🡒]