The Green Bay Packers may have signed Matt LaFleur to a contract extension shortly after the season ended, but the past week has brought plenty of speculation regarding his coaching staff.
The Packers spent all of last week conducting a deliberate process to find a new defensive coordinator but ultimately spurned Jim Leonhard to hire Jonathan Gannon on Sunday. Green Bay could still also make changes as the coaching carousel continues to spin and many have speculated that could mean the departure of offensive line coach Luke Butkus.
Butkus has been a target of fans after the Packers’ offensive line underachieved last season and some have called for a new voice in the room. While fans are refreshing their feed to see if Butkus has been fired, ESPN’s Rob Demovsky hinted that he may be likely to return in 2026 when asked about the future of offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich.
“This is interesting, and this is just one person’s opinion…on what might be going on between those two guys,” Demovsky said during an appearance on the Jen, Gabe & Chewy show on ESPN Milwaukee on Monday morning. “The person I talked to actually spoke more highly of Butkus than Steno, and then perhaps Butkus was just following Steno’s instructions as far as what they were doing on the offensive line. Again, that’s one person’s opinion. Don’t know if that’s true or not. …But I guess where I’m getting to is from what I was told, maybe it’s not all on Butkus [for] the struggles of the offensive line.”
Packers Sound Likely to Keep Luke Butkus for 2026 Season
Demovsky noted at the end it “probably was not fair” to lump Stenavich into the conversation but it peeks into at least how one person views Butkus inside the building. In addition, Butkus also dealt with several injuries and players playing out of their natural positions during the 2025 season, giving the Packers some rationale to bring Butkus back for another season.
It also could mean that Stenavich is in hotter water than Butkus at this point, but Demovsky noted that Matt LaFleur likes to drag out decisions with his coaching staff and may be looking for a way to move Stenavich to another role on the Packers staff as opposed to firing him.
“We’ve seen before, and I don’t know if ‘having trouble firing people’ is the right word, but definitely seems to wait until he absolutely has to do something,” Demovsky said. “I mean, [Maurice] Drayton was the easiest fire as a special teams coordinator and it took him like two weeks to do it. And then when he did, I was told he was trying to see if there was another spot on the staff for him.”
This brings a couple of layers to Butkus’s situation. If the thoughts from Demovsky’s source are a barometer of how people are feeling inside the building, the Packers could be waiting to see if Stenavich gets another job such as the offensive coordinator position with the Tennessee Titans that he was reportedly scheduled to interview for this week. If that happens, Butkus could get a chance to prove the speculation that he was merely following orders, which could help his case in the same role next season.
The Packers could also have let Butkus leave with Jeff Hafley as he assembles his staff with the Miami Dolphins, but they may not allow it if they have a high opinion of him. It also may be a moot point as Miami has a highly respected offensive line coach in Butch Barry, who Hafley may want to keep around as he promises to bring a physical style of play to his new job.
Put it together and it doesn’t seem like Butkus is getting a new job somewhere else and he doesn’t appear to be in danger of getting fired based on Demovsky's observations. Even if Stenavich does leave, Butkus could remain as the offensive line coach, which seems like a disappointing development for fans who just want to see improvement in the trenches next season.