Sean Clifford has completed exactly one pass in the regular season during his career with the Green Bay Packers, one more than Malik Willis for the team he joined just last week.

Those are the Packers’ two in-house options if quarterback Jordan Love suffered a left leg injury in the closing seconds of Friday’s 34-29 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, ruling him out of Week 2’s game against the Indianapolis Colts and beyond.

Clifford, who replaced Love last season and had Bo Melton complete a 37-yard pass in Week 17 against the Minnesota Vikings on the only pass attempt of his rookie season, would have to be promoted or signed from the practice squad if the Packers wanted to go that route. But the Packers didn’t think enough of Clifford to give him a second year as QB2, and after a training camp battle between him and rookie Michael Pratt, they traded a seventh-round pick to the Titans for Willis on Aug. 26.

The Packers felt Willis had learned enough about the offense in less than two weeks in Green Bay to serve as Love’s backup for the opener. He took the final two snaps against the Eagles following Love’s injury. The 2022 third-round pick of the Tennessee Titans threw an incomplete pass and was sacked on the final play of the game. Clifford was expected to travel to Sao Paulo with the team but was not promoted to the roster for the game.

Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst decided against bringing in an experienced replacement during the offseason because he liked Clifford’s performance in his rookie preseason last summer and thought the strong Pratt, a seventh-round pick out of Tulane, could provide solid competition.

Clifford struggled early in training camp, however, as Love was unable to participate in practice while waiting for his contract extension to become final, and Pratt did not play well enough to be retained by the Packers.

“I think there were definitely some disappointing performances at times,” Gutekunst said after the final montage when asked about the Clifford-Pratt competition.

Both quarterbacks went unclaimed on waivers after those cuts were made. While Clifford returned to the Packers’ practice squad, Pratt joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ practice squad.

Willis started three games as a Titans rookie in 2022 and Tennessee went 1-2. Willis then appeared in just three games as a reserve for them last season.

“I think that’s one thing about this preseason. We’re following players in the early stages of their careers. What we’ve seen with this new staff in Tennessee, in particular, is how much he’s made progress on offense by playing out of the pocket and making plays that way,” Gutekunst said of signing Willis.

“Again, this is going to be new for him, and obviously the quarterback position is going to take some time. But at the same time, I’m just really excited about where his progression has taken him so far and where he’s going, especially with our group.”

Gutekunst probably never thought they would have to accelerate his progress so much to possibly start in Week 2.

The last time the Packers had a veteran former starting quarterback on the roster as a backup was in 2021 with Blake Bortles. He spent time with the Packers (when Aaron Rodgers skipped the offseason program that year) and returned to the practice squad in November to replace Love, who started against the Chiefs because Rodgers was out due to COVID-19.

The list of unemployed veteran NFL quarterbacks now includes Ryan Tannehill, Trevor Siemian, Kellen Mond, Nate Sudfeld, CJ Beathard and PJ Walker.

An injury to Love in his first game since signing a four-year, $220 million contract that made him the league’s highest-paid player is the worst-case scenario. Love appeared to be struggling with a cramp in his lower leg during Friday’s game, and several players, including Love, struggled with their feet and slipped. There was no reason to believe either played a role in his injury.

“Yeah, that was tough to watch,” Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark told reporters in Brazil. “That’s the franchise there. Hopefully he can come back next week and be completely fine.”