The Green Bay Packers don’t necessarily need a backup quarterback. They certainly don’t need a starter.
Jordan Love and Sean Clifford are both 25 years old, coming off seasons in which they didn’t sustain any significant injuries and impressed the organization with their play in separate roles. Love established himself as a rising star across the entire league and Clifford, the 2023 fifth-round pick out of Penn State, has the Packers confident in their insurance plan for their new franchise quarterback.
Yet general manager Brian Gutekunst is almost certain to draft a quarterback during this year’s draft and maybe more than one of them. Is quarterback the Packers’ biggest need entering the draft? No. It may not even be among the top 10. But …
“Getting back to drafting multiple quarterbacks is something that I’ve wanted to do,” Gutekunst said in February at the NFL Scouting Combine. “We kind of went away from that for a few years and I’d like to get back to that because I just think having young, talented quarterbacks on your roster that the coaches can develop, I just think is really healthy and important for a franchise.”
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Before Clifford last year and Love in 2020, Brett Hundley was the last quarterback drafted by the Packers, in the fifth round of the 2015 draft. Gutekunst has only drafted two in his six years in charge of the draft and they’re both currently on the roster. He’s often opted for undrafted quarterbacks like Tim Boyle, Manny Wilkins, Kurt Benkert and Alex McGough to fill the bottom of the depth chart instead of draft picks. The Packers have the freedom to do something like take a quarterback at some point in the draft instead of addressing more pressing needs with each pick this year, however, because they own 11 selections, tied for most in the NFL. They also don’t have many needs in the starting lineup, but rather ones for depth at positions such as inside linebacker, edge rusher, offensive tackle and other spots.
Though the Packers appear set at backup quarterback, Gutekunst values competition across the board and would argue that bringing in another quarterback or two to compete with Clifford for the backup job can only improve the depth behind Love. If there’s any team that values developing quarterbacks behind the starter, it’s the Packers. And while this instance isn’t to prepare Clifford or someone they draft to be the starter like the Packers did in sitting Love and Aaron Rodgers for three years each, it remains important to develop guys in case Love goes down.
“I’d love to continue to bring in quarterbacks, not only for the competition but for the development of them because I do think it takes time,” Gutekunst said. “It takes time, any player, but a quarterback, particularly, in a comfort zone of what he’s doing where you can really see his talent come out. I think Sean hit that pretty early compared to most, but I think that’s important you give that player the time to get there.”
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The pick of Clifford as early as the fifth round was surprising, but he beat out 2023 USFL MVP McGough for the backup job in camp and held onto his spot for the entire season. Clifford didn’t play any meaningful snaps because Love remained healthy all season, but he’s tied for the best completion percentage in NFL history with a career mark of 1-of-1 for 37 yards after his bomb to wide receiver Bo Melton in garbage time of a Week 17 blowout of the Minnesota Vikings.
“I’m super excited about Sean,” head coach Matt LaFleur said last month at the NFL’s annual league meeting. “I just saw the growth in practice, the way he was able to compete against our defense. When you’re on the scout team, you always try to take whatever play they’re running and put it in our terms so we can help coach him a little bit better with it and I just saw so much growth throughout the course of the season. He kept continuing to get better and better and better and would make some throws in practice where you’re just kinda, you didn’t know he was always capable of that … He’s a competitive dude and yeah, I expect him to take a jump being in Year 2 in our system.”
Added Gutekunst: “I think he’s absolutely proven he can be a No. 2 and maybe more than that. Sean did a great job in his first year. I thought you guys saw it. The exciting thing about Sean is he played a lot of football in college, had a lot of experience, and then coming in early with us, his play style, his aggressiveness. You guys saw in preseason his ability to play in the fire and overcome anything that’s going on in the game was pretty unique for a young guy, so we’re very excited about Sean and where he’s headed.”
Even if the Packers only draft one quarterback later this month, who could a couple of targets be? Never say never with Green Bay and drafting quarterbacks, but it seems unlikely Gutekunst would add to the position on the first two days of the draft, even if the Packers have five selections in the first three rounds. Let’s start on Day 3 in Round 4, where targets could include South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler and Tulane’s Michael Pratt, Dane Brugler’s No. 88 and No. 100 overall prospects on his most recent big board.
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The fourth round still seems too premium of a spot to address a position of such little need for the Packers, so it’s fair to assume Round 5 is the earliest at which Gutekunst would draft a quarterback. Names to watch that might come off the board in the last three rounds are Tennessee’s Joe Milton, the 24-year-old with a rocket arm, Maryland’s Taulia Tagovailoa, Tua’s younger brother, Florida State’s Jordan Travis, who broke his leg late last season but could be an interesting developmental prospect, Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman, whom Gutekunst saw at the Senior Bowl and Pittsburgh’s Phil Jurkovec, who played at Boston College for three years under new Packers defensive coordinator and former Eagles head coach Jeff Hafley.
Could Tennessee’s Joe Milton be on the Packers’ radar for this month’s draft? (Bryan Lynn / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Whoever they draft, barring an offseason and preseason collapse from Clifford, will likely end up on the practice squad alone or with McGough. A team’s third quarterback can dress on game day while not counting for one of the 48 allotted game day roster spots, but only if they’re on the 53-man roster and not the practice squad. The Packers haven’t carried three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster since 2020, when they had to carry Love but had Boyle as Rodgers’ backup while Love learned the offense.
In other words, don’t expect Gutekunst’s declaration that he wants to add more quarterbacks to mean anything substantial for the room. Love will still be the starter and based on the head coach’s and GM’s words, Clifford is in line to be his backup. If anything, a franchise that has proven adept at drafting and developing quarterbacks simply wants to continue doing what it is good at within reason.
(Top photo of Sean Clifford and Jordan Love: Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)
