Those rave reviews came from Staley, who told Bakhtiari that despite Stenavich’s inexperience — as recently as 2007, Stenavich was in training camp with the Packers as a player — he knows his stuff and will effectively install the version of the zone-blocking run scheme required to make LaFleur’s offense work.

In fact, Staley, a six-time Pro Bowl left tackle, told Bakhtiari that losing Stenavich was a blow to the 49ers, even though he was an assistant to veteran NFL line coach John Benton.

“Joe Staley gave (Stenavich) a lot of high praise. Honestly, he told me he was sad and kind mad that he was getting the phone call from me letting him know that his coach isn’t going to be there, because he liked him a lot,” Bakhtiari said. “And right off the bat, that made me feel good about where we’re going and that further gives that I can trust that Matt knows what he’s doing.”

Bakhtiari said he and Stenavich spoke for a bit — Bakhtiari was on vacation in New Zealand when the news broke — and that the two have texted back and forth a few times since. He said they “had a good conversation,” and that he let Stenavich “know that I’m excited to work with him, that I can’t wait to meet him and build up a trust with myself, who’s one of the elder statesmen in the room, with our new O-line coach.”