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    • Packers choose potential over familiarity for second quarterback position
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    Packers choose potential over familiarity for second quarterback position

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    GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Packers had no shortage of options when it came to filling their backup quarterback position.

    There just weren’t many good ones.

    As the 3 p.m. Tuesday deadline for cutting the roster to 53 players approached, the Packers opted for potential over experience.

    In sending an unconditional seventh-round draft pick to the Tennessee Titans for Malik Willis on Monday, the Packers decided they were better off with a former third-round pick with a strong arm, excellent running ability and just 22 snaps played since his last start 20 months ago.

    They selected Willis over their 2023 fifth-round pick Sean Clifford and 2024 seventh-round pick Michael Pratt, both of whom are expected to be released on Tuesday. They appear to have selected Willis rather than wait for a veteran player or better prospect to become available during the final cutdown.

    That seems so because you cannot rule out a next move after the cuts.

    Gutekunst could easily add a third experienced quarterback or let Willis go if someone better comes along, as he used him as insurance in case the market went cold. Willis is on a minimum base salary this year and the Packers don’t owe him a dime if they decide to let him go.

    Willis is an odd choice for the Packers because, unlike the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Love, he’s more of a running quarterback than a pocket passer. He’s more of a Jalen Hurts than a Jordan Love. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Willis carried the ball 338 times for 1,822 yards and 13 touchdowns during his two seasons at Liberty University.

    (Love ran the ball 170 times in three seasons at Utah State.)

    In his three starts with the Titans, Willis threw the ball 49 times and ran with it 20 times (for 95 yards).

    In college, he threw for over 5,000 yards and 47 touchdowns with 18 interceptions and entered the draft after just two seasons as a starter. Some projected Willis as a first- or second-round pick based on his talent, but he ultimately went to the third round, possibly because he played in a simplistic offense at Liberty.

    The Titans couldn’t figure out how to use him during his rookie season. In his three rookie starts as Ryan Tannehill’s backup, Willis completed 25 of 49 passes for 234 yards with three interceptions.

    The following year, after Ran Carthon became general manager, the Titans selected Kentucky quarterback Will Levis with the second pick in the second round. Levis and Tannehill had split starts the previous year, but the Titans did not re-sign Tannehill and went full steam ahead with Levis as their starter.

    After firing coach Mike Vrabel and hiring Brian Callahan, the Titans signed former Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph to compete with Willis for the backup job. But Rudolph was 8-4-1 as a starter for the Steelers, and no one doubted that this would be his job.

    That meant the Titans would either keep three quarterbacks or let Willis go. They decided to go with two and found someone who would give them a draft pick for Willis before having to let him go.

    Gutekunst hasn’t really solved the problem of someone who seems capable of winning some games if something happens to Love. If Willis is to succeed, coach Matt LaFleur will have to retool the offense to his strengths, which would mean a lot more read-option and quarterback keeps.

    The Packers believe Willis’ experience under Callahan will help him in Green Bay because Callahan worked under Cincinnati’s Zac Taylor, who worked under Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams and comes from the same coaching family as LaFleur.

    Gutekunst initially had three options for drafting a backup quarterback, one of which still exists.

    • He had a choice between Clifford and Pratt.
    • He could try to find a more talented young player than Clifford and Pratt.
    • He could see if an experienced quarterback with a few starts under his belt would be available.

    The first option was not such a good option, given the results in the pre-season period.

    Clifford and Pratt couldn’t get the ball in the end zone. In three games, they combined for 28 possessions and led the offense to three touchdowns, three field goals (two field goal misses) and two interceptions.

    Willis performed slightly better in pre-season play, completing 20 of 27 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns with an interception.

    He had 13 drives and led the offense to two touchdowns, a field goal and an interception. In 79 plays, the offense racked up 352 yards with him as center. Both touchdown drives came in the preseason finale against the New Orleans Saints, when he entered the game with 2 minutes, 25 seconds left in the third quarter.

    The second option, finding a young player with more talent than Clifford and Pratt, included Willis, but availability elsewhere is questionable.

    Other possibilities include Jaren Hall (Minnesota), Tyler Huntley (Cleveland), Trey Lance (Dallas), Zach Wilson (Denver), Jake Haener (New Orleans), Justin Fields (Pittsburgh), Tanner McKee (Philadelphia), Spencer Rattler (New Orleans) and Joe Milton (New England).

    The problem is that a lot of teams are going to keep three quarterbacks. That likely means Wilson, Haener, Fields, McKee, Rattler and Milton, who all looked good in the preseason, would be unavailable.

    Hall has a chance to be fired and would be an interesting prospect, even though he played poorly against the Packers in January. He has a year in a similar system and played great during the preseason, completing 28 of 46 for 339 yards and four touchdowns. Under no circumstances would the Vikings trade him to the Packers.

    Huntley is another quarterback with more experience (nine starts in the past three years) than Willis and played well in pre-season.

    Lance threw five interceptions, so he’s worth considering.

    The last option was the veterans.

    Among them were Jacksonville’s CJ Beathard, Atlanta’s Taylor Heinicke, Houston’s Case Keenum, Chicago’s Brett Rypien, Miami’s Mike White and Washington’s Jeff Driskel.

    Not everyone will be available, but Beathard and Heinicke aren’t old and could be out on the street Tuesday. Beathard played for LaFleur’s brother, Mike, in San Francisco, and Heinicke went 5-3-1 with Washington in 2022. Driskel has a miserable starting record (1-10), going 30 of 48 for 242 yards and no touchdowns with an interception in the preseason.

    Rypien had a great preseason, but didn’t play well in his only start with the Rams last year. Keenum won a game for the Texans last year when C.J. Stroud was injured, but he’s 36 years old and Gutekunst may not want to go there.

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    Another option that has been discussed is Tannehill, who is a free agent. But a source said it was his understanding that Tannehill would not play this year unless he received a substantial financial offer. The Packers are not the ones doing that for a backup quarterback.

    If Willis becomes the backup, it will be an interesting season, because it will take at least a month for him to catch up with the offense. The idea that he can carry the team if something happens to Love has led to some wishful thinking.

    But for now, he’s the option.

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