For Clifford, ‘Opportunity Is Either Nowhere or Now Here’

Speaking from Aaron Rodgers’ old locker at rookie minicamp, Packers rookie QB Sean Clifford discussed beating out Will Levis at Penn State and now facing Danny Etling.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
May 5, 2023 3:25 PM EDT

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Sean Clifford, having inherited Aaron Rodgers’ locker at Lambeau Field, will have to battle to win the No. 2 quarterback job for the Green Bay Packers.

He’s been there before.

At Penn State, Clifford beat out Will Levis for the starting gig in 2019 and 2020. Levis went onto stardom at Kentucky and was one of the touted prospects of the 2023 NFL Draft before falling to the Tennessee Titans with the 33rd overall selection near the top of the second round.

Clifford’s draft wait was much longer – 116 spots to No. 149 of the fifth round. He won’t be challenging Jordan Love to be the starter but he’s got a golden opportunity on his hands with a one-on-one battle against unheralded Danny Etling to be the backup to Love.

Clifford took one of coach Matt LaFleur’s messages to heart.

“It’s all opportunity,” Clifford said before making his Packers debut on Friday at the rookie minicamp. “Coach LaFleur put up yesterday, ‘Opportunity is either nowhere or now here.’ It’s really about the opportunity is now here.

“For all of us – not only myself but the other guys in the class – just being able to really come in and show the staff and the front office and the NFL what we did in college and how we’re going to get better in the NFL. I don’t look at it as pressure. I’m trying to focus on what I can do first and how I can help others. I really don’t look at it as I’m trying to win this, win that. I’m just trying to get better every single day.”

That approach worked at Penn State, when he beat out the touted Levis two consecutive years. That set the stage for a career in which he topped 10,000 passing yards.

How did he do it?

“I just took care of what I could control,” said Clifford, who will wear jersey No. 8 – the same number as Rodgers with the Jets. “Will is a fantastic player. He’s going to have a great career. He had a great one at Kentucky and he’s going to have a great one in Tennessee.

“He’s a good buddy of mine. We got along really well. It was a very healthy competition all the way through. We were always battling but never holding back from each other, always teaching each other and growing together. It was a lot of fun to compete with him and I’m happy to see him having so much success.”

Now comes Clifford’s next challenge. The Packers have only three quarterbacks on the roster with Love, Etling and Clifford. Etling was a sixth-round pick by the New England Patriots in 2018. In his NFL career, he’s had more position changes (two, having gone from quarterback to receiver and back to quarterback) than regular-season snaps (zero).

Etling, who initially joined the Packers’ practice squad in December 2021, had a strong preseason last year and has a season-plus of experience in Green Bay’s system. He’ll enter the offseason as the favorite to win the No. 2 job, but Clifford couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to win a spot on a 53-man roster.

“You want to go against the best,” Clifford said. “That’s why I’m excited to go against Danny and Jordan because they’re such great players. They’re really good human beings. Jordan called me right after the draft, congratulated me.

“Danny, I’ve been with just today, but just the opportunity to be here with him, I learned a lot about what his background is like, the places he’s been. He’s not holding anything back from me. I’m really being a sponge. It’s just compete and have fun and do what I love, which is playing the game.”