Green Bay Packers Free Agency Preview: Quarterbacks

With Jordan Love, Malik Willis and Sean Clifford under contract for 2025, the Packers’ quarterback room is about as strong as any in the NFL.

Packers Depth Chart

Jordan Love: After a promising debut season as Green Bay’s starter, Love signed a four-year, $220 million contract extension at the start of training camp. While Love was paid like an elite quarterback, statistically he was about the same in 2024 as in 2023.

In 2023, Love completed 64.2 percent of his passes and finished with a passer rating of 96.1. In 2024, he completed 63.1 percent of his passes and finished with a passer rating of 96.7. He threw 11 interceptions in 2023 and 11 again in 2024, though in 154 fewer attempts. The last impression is typically the lasting impression. Love was great down the stretch in 2023 but was mediocre, at best, down the stretch in 2024.

A Week 1 knee injury and a midseason groin injury impacted his play. He needs to play better for the Packers to contend for anything.

Love is under contract through 2028. His cap number is up from about $20.8 million in 2023 to $29.7 million in 2024, which ranks 16th. According to OverTheCap.com, he will consume 10.1 percent of the team’s salary cap – up from 7.8 percent in 2024.

Malik Willis: When neither Sean Clifford nor rookie Michael Pratt seized control of the backup role, the Packers acquired Willis from the Titans for a seventh-round pick. In a confluence of roster-building intelligence, superb coaching and coachability and talent, it turned out to be a season-saving transaction.

A former third-round pick, Willis had a 49.4 passer rating with zero touchdowns and three interceptions in two seasons in Tennessee. With Green Bay, Willis won a pair of starts not long after joining the team, replaced an injured Love to win at Jacksonville and replaced an injured Love to position the Packers to win against the Bears. He finished with three touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 124.8 passer rating.

His cap charge of about $1.4 million ranks 39th at the position.

Willis is under contract for the 2025 season. In 12 months, will he be pursued as a potential starter?

Sean Clifford: Clifford served as Love’s backup as a rookie fifth-round pick in 2023. A mistake-filled training camp led to the acquisition of Willis.

Packers Free-Agent Outlook

Maybe the Packers will draft a quarterback to challenge Clifford in 2025 and potentially replace Willis in 2026. But they certainly will not sign that player in free agency.

Best Available Free Agents

Here are the top six players the Packers won’t be cutting a big, fat check to in free agency.

Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings: As a first-round pick in 2018, Darnold in four seasons as a starter never did better than 61.9 percent completions, 19 touchdowns, 3,024 yards, an 84.3 rating or seven wins. With the Vikings, he completed 66.2 percent of his passes with 35 touchdowns, 4,319 yards, a 102.5 rating and a 14-3 record. He was superb until imploding in the NFC North title game at Detroit and the wild-card playoff loss at the Rams.

Will the Vikings pay him – a lot – or will they hope they can get a comparable performance from 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy?

Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets: As a 40-year-old starter, Rodgers wasn’t terrible. He completed 63.0 percent of his passes for 3,897 yards with 28 touchdowns vs. 11 interceptions. However, his 90.5 passer rating was the worst of his career and the Jets went 5-12. With Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams, it’s not as if he was throwing to Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb.

Raiders star Maxx Crosby is courting Rodgers. He’d be better than Aidan O’Connell and Desmond Ridder. The Raiders could use a receiver, too, and Adams is available.

Russell Wilson, Pittsburgh Steelers: For which team will Wilson be making his 200th career start? He’s up to 199 after starting 11 times with the Steelers last year. He went 6-5, then lost to Baltimore in the playoffs. The 36-year-old had a respectable 95.6 passer rating but hasn’t finished at 100-plus since 2021 with Seattle.

Daniel Jones, Minnesota Vikings: First, the Giants used the sixth pick of the 2019 draft on Jones. Next, they overpaid him. Finally, they gave up on him after he won just three of 16 starts with 10 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 2023 and 2024. The Vikings wisely snapped him up and will either have a backup if they keep him or a compensatory pick if they let him go.

Jameis Winston, Cleveland Browns: The Jameis Winston Experience is a wild ride. In 2019, he threw for 5,109 yards with 33 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. Last year for the Browns, he threw 13 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. He’s 31 and equally as capable of winning games in spectacular fashion as losing games in horrific fashion.

Jimmy Garoppolo, Los Angeles Rams: Garoppolo started for Matthew Stafford in the meaningless Week 18 game against Seattle. He was 27-of-41 for 334 yards with two touchdowns, one interception and a 100.0 passer rating. The 33-year-old is 43-21 as a starter, which serves as fuel to those who believe “quarterback wins” isn’t a real stat.

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Here's @JacobWestendorf's latest seven-round #Packers mock draft. ⬇️https://t.co/TbZ8aNuqkp
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) March 6, 2025