QBs Drafted by the Green Bay Packers Since 2000
The NFL Draft is an event of hope and optimism, a struggling team can turn into perennial Super Bowl favorites in the NFL odds, and it all starts with the quarterback. The NFL QB might be the most challenging position in sports. Teams will try for years to draft a franchise quarterback. Sometimes it comes in the first round, or even in the sixth round, in the case of Tom Brady. In this series, we will look at the QB draft history of the Green Bay Packers in the 21st century and see how the pick’s career in the NFL turned out.
Green Bay has been fortunate to have two of the best quarterbacks ever play back-to-back in Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, something that rarely happens in the NFL.
Craig Nall (2002)
With Favre still in the prime of his career, the Packers did not need to waste a draft pick on a quarterback. But in 2002, they selected Northwestern State QB in the fifth round, and, not surprisingly, he was a backup to Favre during his entire four-year stint in Green Bay.
Nall’s real success in the NFL came in NFL Europe, where he played for the Scottish Claymores in 2003 and was the league’s leading passer. Nall saw the most action in 2004, where he played in five games and threw 33 passes for 314 yards with four touchdowns and zero interceptions.
The Buffalo Bills signed Nall in 2006, expecting him to challenge for the starting quarterback position, but he suffered a hamstring injury during training camp and did not get a chance to play. The Bills later released him in 2007.
Nall signed with the Houston Texans later that year but was released a short time afterward. He returned to the Packers in 2007 and made one appearance where he went 7-15 for 88 yards and a touchdown against the Detroit Lions. Nall never started a game in the NFL, but he did well when called upon, completing 62 percent of his passes for 402 yards with five touchdowns with zero interceptions.
Aaron Rodgers (2005)
The Packers identified Favre’s successor in 2005 by selecting Cal University QB Aaron Rodgers. The young quarterback sat behind Favre for three seasons, making sporadic appearances in garbage time. Then in 2008, after a messy breakup between Favre and the Packers, Rodgers was named the starter. Favre announced his retirement but wanted to come back and play for a different team, but the Packers still had a year of control on his contract. Favre was traded to the New York Jets.
Rodgers started all 16 games for the Packers in 2008. He played well, but Green Bay finished with a 6-10 record. The fourth-year quarterback threw for 4,038 yards, completing 63 percent of his passes with 28 touchdowns to 13 interceptions. Over the next couple of years, Rodgers continued to show improvement, making his first of nine Pro Bowls, and then, entering the 2010 NFL playoffs as a wild card, the QB led his team to the Super Bowl.
Green Bay faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, and the Packers were a three-point favorite in the NFL betting odds. Rodgers had a great playoff run before the Super Bowl, but his performance in the Super Bowl firmly established him as one of the best QBs in the NFL. Rodgers was named Super Bowl MVP and threw for 304 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in the 31-25 Green Bay victory.
Rodgers won his first of three NFL MVP awards in 2011 by throwing a career-high 4,643 yards with 45 touchdowns with only six interceptions. Rodgers seemingly got better as time went on, winning another MVP in 2014 and again in 2020. The latter, at age 36, was arguably his best season on the Packers, with 48 touchdowns and five interceptions. One of Rodgers’ strengths is his ability to take care of the ball. He has only thrown over ten interceptions twice in his career, both during his first three years as a starter.
Heading into 2021, Rodgers is still considered a top-three quarterback in the NFL. Call it luck or skill, but Green Bay had one of the remarkable transitions of quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. It could only be rivaled by the Joe Montana/Steve Young era of the San Francisco 49ers.
The Packers have been a perennial Super Bowl contender almost every year with Rodgers under center, but it has only resulted in the one lone Super Bowl win. Rodgers is 1-4 in NFL conference championship games, becoming the first quarterback to lose four in a row.
Rodgers’ career is eerily similar to Favre’s, both have won three MVPs and a Super Bowl, and their time with the Packers came to an end with a messy breakup. Green Bay drafted another quarterback on this list in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft rather than taking an offensive weapon to help the team win right away. That move by management appears to have been the beginning of the end for Rodgers and the Pack. Displeased with the current state of the team, the veteran QB feels like the Packers should have done more to win a championship, saying, “It’s just kind of about a philosophy and maybe forgetting that it is about the people that make the thing go. It’s about character, it’s about culture, it’s about doing things the right way.”.
Green Bay has not met Rodgers’ expectations. That has led to an uncertain future for Rodgers with the Packers as he is currently holding out from the team’s preseason activities.
Matt Flynn (2008)
With Favre out of the picture, the Packers needed a backup for Rodgers. The team chose to select Matt Flynn out of LSU in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL draft. Flynn sat on the bench and did not get much playing time, as his first NFL start came in 2010 against the New England Patriots after Rodgers was not medically cleared to play the NFL Week 15 game. The former LSU Tiger played well, but a pick-six and a sack-fumble were the difference as the Packers lost the game 31-27. Flynn completed 23 of 37 passes for 254 yards with three touchdowns along with the fumble and interception.
Flynn made another start in the 2011 season, and this game would change his career trajectory. Against the Detroit Lions in week 17, Flynn threw for 480 yards and six touchdowns, both Green Bay records. Flynn was a free agent that year, and his performance piqued the interest of several teams. The Seattle Seahawks signed Flynn to a three-year $20.5 million contract mainly based on that one game against the Lions.
After the signing, Flynn was expected to be the Seahawks’ starter in 2012, but a rookie beat him out by the name of Russell Wilson. Flynn was again relegated to a backup role.
2013 was a strange year for Flynn. In April, the Seahawks traded him to the Oakland Raiders. He lost his one start of the season and was released in October. The Buffalo Bills signed Flynn a week later, where he served as an emergency QB and was then released three weeks later.
Flynn returned to the Packers after Rodgers and Seneca Wallace were injured. He ended up playing four games, going 2-2 with 1,146 yards, seven touchdowns, and four interceptions. Flynn signed a one-year contract with Green Bay in 2014 and made four appearances in garbage time.
As a free agent in 2015, he signed with the New England Patriots but was subsequently released in August. Flynn signed with the New York Jets a week later but was released in September only to sign with the New Orleans Saints in November. 2015 was the last season for Flynn, even though he did not appear in an NFL regular-season game that year.
Jordan Love (2020)
The 2020 NFL Draft might not have been where the drama with Rodgers started, but it is definitely where it came to a head. Many NFL expert picks had Green Bay drafting an offensive weapon to pair with receiver Devante Adams, but with the 26th overall pick, Green Bay took Utah State QB Jordan Love. The NFL world was perplexed as to why the Packers would reach for Love in the first round when Rodgers showed no signs of slowing down.
Rodgers was diplomatic when answering questions about the draft pick, but it was clear that the face of Green Bay’s franchise disagreed with the decision. The Packers suffered another disappointing loss in the NFC Championship Game, and the tension between the starting quarterback and his team has only grown since then.
Love has not yet played a single snap in the NFL. With no Rodgers in camp, Love is getting reps with the first-team, and reviews are mixed regarding his performance. If Love starts for the Packers in 2021, it will be a noticeable downgrade. Give Green Bay the benefit of the doubt, however. The team pulled it off when moving from Favre to Rodgers, so they might be able to do it again with Rodgers to Love.
Drafting an NFL franchise quarterback is the hardest thing to do in football. Teams are constantly drafting QBs in hopes that they can turn their team around, but there is no formula on what college player will turn into a great NFL quarterback. Rodgers was a touted prospect coming out of Cal, but no one expected him to be this great in the NFL, except for Rodgers himself.
The Packers have not drafted many quarterbacks recently because they have been set at that position for almost 30 years. Having Favre and Rodgers under center allowed them to focus on different needs to build a championship team. The preseason seemingly always has the Packers at the top of the odds to win the AFC and the NFL Super Bowl odds. Still, the team has only one Super Bowl victory in the last 25 years to show for it and might go into the 2021 NFL regular season with an unproven QB under center.
