Packers Seek QB With ‘Experience’ But That Well’s Mostly Dry

“I think it would be nice to have someone who has some experience” behind Jordan Love, Packers GM Brian Gutekunst said. Here is the list.

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
Mar 28, 2023 3:18 PM EDT
Original:
Mar 28, 2023

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Because of the value they put on the position, the Green Bay Packers have been blessed with some excellent backup quarterbacks over the past 25-plus years.

Obviously, Aaron Rodgers was the backup to Brett Favre for three years, just like Jordan Love was the backup to Rodgers for three years. Matt Hasselbeck and Aaron Brooks went from Packers backups to quality NFL starters. Doug Pederson and Matt Flynn went from Packers backups to NFL starters to Packers backups.

With Love set to replace Rodgers as the starter, general manager Brian Gutekunst is in the market for a backup. The only other quarterback under contract is Danny Etling, a seventh-round draft choice by the Patriots in 2018 who has had more position changes (quarterback to receiver to quarterback) than regular-season snaps (zero).

“I think it would be nice to have someone who has some experience,” Gutekunst said at the NFL owners meetings on Monday. “We have a lot of respect for Danny and what he's done and would be very comfortable with him in the (No.) 2 spot, but I think we'll look at a lot of different options.”

Going the veteran route with a quarterback who has experienced everything that Love is about to experience would make sense. However, that group has been hit hard through free agency.

It’s not just the top guns, such as Derek Carr to the Saints and Jimmy Garoppolo to the Raiders. Taylor Heinicke and Gardner Minshew, who have had success as starters, are off the market. So, too, are failed first-round picks Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield, as well as passers with some Packers ties, such as Marcus Mariota (coached by Matt LaFleur in Tennessee in 2018) and Drew Lock (predraft visit with Green Bay in 2019).

So, who’s left?

The best of the bunch are former MVP Matt Ryan, who’s 37, and Teddy Bridgewater, who’s still only 30. More likely than not, they’re looking for an opportunity to play.

Carson Wentz (30) might be looking for a chance to get on the field, as well, though he’s lost starting jobs with the Eagles, Colts and Commanders the last three years.

There are some old journeymen, such as Joe Flacco (38), Brian Hoyer (37) and Chase Daniel (36).

Blaine Gabbert (33) might have been a bust as Jacksonville’s first-round pick in 2011 but does have 48 starts under his belt.

Brandon Allen (30), Jeff Driskel (29) and Nathan Peterman (28) have started here and there during nomadic careers. Mason Rudolph (27), a third-round pick by the Steelers in 2019, has started 10 games.

Trevor Siemian, who got the first shot at replacing the retired Peyton Manning in Denver, would know the offense after spending last season with Chicago but might wind up retiring, a source said.

Last but not least: Tim Boyle, who was Rodgers’ primary backup in 2019 and 2020, is a free agent after spending the last several weeks of last season with Chicago. He obviously would know the offense and has two years of history with LaFleur and one with Love.

“I think you can go a couple different ways with it, to be honest,” LaFleur told reporters on Tuesday. “You can try to get a veteran in here that’s done it and can help, because I think it’s always important, obviously, the relationships in that room. I think it’s important for a quarterback to have another quarterback and player to lean on in some of those times, especially when you’re going through a little adversity.”

If that’s an unappetizing group, the alternative is the draft.

In 2008, then-general manager Ted Thompson bypassed free agency and drafted Brian Brohm in the second round and Flynn in the seventh. Brohm was an enormous bust – he didn’t even make it through two seasons in Green Bay and threw zero touchdowns vs. five interceptions in two starts with the Buffalo Bills in 2009 and 2010 – but Flynn proved to be quite a find.

The 2023 NFL Draft class, though, is underwhelming at best. While scouts are relatively high on the five quarterbacks at the top of the class, it’s slim pickings beyond that group. A Packers quarterback must have some height – during the Thompson-Gutekunst era, they haven’t picked a quarterback shorter than 6-foot-2 (without rounding up) – and coach Matt LaFleur’s offense requires some mobility.

The quarterbacks who are mobile tend to be short; the quarterbacks who have height tend to be statues. Is a Day 3 pick on Houston’s Clayton Tune, to throw out an example of a quarterback who fits from a size-athleticism perspective, going to be better than Boyle?

However it’s done, the Packers will need a third quarterback just to get through the offseason, training camp and preseason. If Etling is ready to be the No. 2 headed into the regular season, great, the job belongs to him. But there has to be a real battle and not just a No. 2-by-default.

“If you fall in love with somebody in the draft, you can draft a young guy,” LaFleur said. “There’s a lot of different ways to do it. I’ve been a part of a lot of different quarterback rooms. So, I just think you’ve got to try to figure out and get the best guy available.”