Earlier this offseason Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst traded Damarious Randall to the Cleveland Browns for quarterback DeShone Kizer to compete with Brett Hundley to be Aaron Rodgers top backup. Gutekunst then released Joe Callahan and signed undrafted free agent quarterback Tim Boyle. All this change in the quarterback room after Mike McCarthy stated how he liked the room last year. Obviously, Gutekunst felt differently and looked to improve the depth at the quarterback position.
Since Rodgers has been the starting quarterback, the Packers have not gotten the results from the back-up quarterbacks that they had hoped for. The team has invested time and effort into backup quarterbacks who never fully developed on the field. The hope has also been that they would never see the field with Rodgers running the show. As we have seen, when Rodgers did get injured the ship sank. The Packers just need a backup quarterback who can keep the ship afloat if Rodgers is ever out again.
Gutekunst signed Tim Boyle as he thought he was an upgrade over Joe Callahan. When it came to testing, Tim Boyle compares favorably to Rodgers. He ran the 40 yard dash in 4.75 seconds, registered a vertical jump of 35 1/2 inches, a broad jump of 9 feet 9 inches and a three cone time of 7.03 seconds and a short shuttle of 4.49 seconds. The Packers think highly of him enough that they are going to be heading into training camp with 4 quarterbacks on the roster. If he plays well during the pre-season, he could force the Packers hand to keep him on the roster as the number three quarterback.
During the Packers recent rookie camp where there was no experienced quarterbacks throwing the football, Boyle took the opportunity to impress the coaching staff. And, that he did in throwing laser 20 yard passes. Not only were the coaches impressed, the rookie wide receivers were equally impressed at the quality of the throws that were being thrown their way.
For Boyle to make the roster he is going to have to hold on through training camp and equally impress the coaches and veterans when there are live plays happening. Now the Packers are only going to keep 3 quarterbacks, so if Boyle plays well, that means that Hundley could be the guy out.
The Packers traded for Kizer to improve upon the quarterback play behind Rodgers. Kizer would have been one of the top quarterbacks in this years draft, so essentially the Packers are getting a top rookie quarterback with starting experience. The writing was on the wall for Hundley the day Kizer walked in the door. Hundley was ill prepared to be a starting quarterback last year, as he was unable to get the Packers into the playoffs after Rodgers went down with an injury.
The battle to be Rodgers top backup will be interesting. My way too early predication is that Kizer is QB2, and Boyle makes the team as QB3, leaving Hundley the odd man out and being cut. Gutekunst is pushing all of the right buttons during the offseason to try and improve all facets of this team. Time will tell if the moves he has made will work out.
Anthony Haag is a writer for PackersTalk.com. He has been a Packers fan since the day he was born and truly bleeds green and gold. He makes annual visits to Lambeau Field and has attended his fair share of games. You can follow Anthony on Twitter at @anthony_haag
