Green Bay Packers 90-Man Roster: Previewing the Quarterbacks

The Green Bay Packers’ 90 man roster is now once again set — or at least we think it is — after the recent signing of wide receiver DeAndre Thompkins. So with that, along with mini-camp being just days away and training camp on the horizon, I will be going position by position and player by player through this Packers roster.

And, of course, there is no better place to start than with the quarterback position. There’s not much going on there, right?

While we don’t completely know how the Aaron Rodgers’ saga will play out — although I do think he is Green Bay’s Week 1 starter — since he is still on the team, I’m going to operate under the assumption that he will be QB1. 

So without further ado, here are your 2021 Green Bay Packers’ quarterbacks.

Aaron Rodgers

Although the Green Bay Packers went 13-3 for the second straight season, we saw Aaron Rodgers take a massive step forward in the Matt LaFleur offense. The reigning league MVP threw for 4,299 yards while completing a career-high 70.7 percent of his passes. His 48 touchdowns were the most in football, he had just five interceptions, and his 121.5 passer rating was also the NFL’s best. On top of that, Rodgers also led the league in touchdown rate, interception rate, average yards per attempt, and quarterback rating.

In the very quarterback-friendly LaFleur system, there really is no reason to think that Rodgers is going to slow down any time soon. Now, that isn’t to say he will be the MVP every year, but he can remain elite, which is a big reason that the Packers find themselves in the predicament that they are in. As Rodgers has put it, he really messed up Green Bay’s timeline in terms of when they were planning to move on from Rodgers and start Jordan Love, by having an MVP season.

Ultimately, it would appear that a lot still has to be worked out between the two parties, but as I mentioned above, my guess is that Rodgers isn’t going anywhere. As I’ve written about before, I believe he receives an extension, which will provide him with the job security that he wants, since the added years and money will make it so that Green Bay can’t move on from him whenever they wish because the dead cap hits will simply be too large.

With Rodgers under center, this is once again a very legitimate Super Bowl roster, and anything shy of bringing the Lombardi Trophy home will be a disappointment.

Jordan Love

Rodgers has referred to his own future with the team as a “beautiful mystery,” but I also think that’s a great way to describe Jordan Love. Outside of a few video clips from practice here and there, we have not seen Love and have no clue where he is at in his development. And while the Green Bay Packers obviously have a much better idea than we do since they see him at practice, to some extent, I’m not sure they know what they have either.

This is going to be a crucial offseason when it comes to Love’s long-term development. Due to COVID restrictions in 2020, he lost out of valuable practice time, and as the third quarterback on the roster, there weren’t exactly a ton of practice reps to go around after Rodgers and Tim Boyle.

"“Even just being able to get out there and practice — I mean, that’s huge, said Nathaniel Hackett via Pro Football Talk. “So I think for him, it’s just growing more in the offensive system, even more than he already has. Just making it his own. … Obviously, we’re very excited if we can be able to practice because I think that’s something he needs. The last time he was able to really get after the practices was in training camp. So if that’s kind of what we’re dealt, then it’ll be training camp when he can really make some strides and get those full-time, speed reps. Besides that, it’s about studying and he’s got to work on his own because we don’t get to see him.”"

Understandably so, I think it’s fair to say that based on comments like this from Hackett, as well as others from Matt LaFleur and Brian Gutekunst this offseason, that Love is not ready to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. But now, as QB2 — don’t let the signing of Blake Bortles fool you — Love should get more of those highly needed reps, and he’s currently operating as the top quarterback in OTAs during Rodgers’ absence.

While typically I’m not someone who gets terribly excited about the preseason, I cannot wait for it this year just to see Love in action. As I alluded to, we haven’t truly seen him playing football since he was on the field for Utah State in 2019.

Blake Bortles

Not to say that Blake Bortles won’t make the 53-man roster, maybe the Green Bay Packers do want to keep three quarterbacks again, but I see him more as a camp arm than someone who is there to compete with Love for the QB2 role. Like I mentioned, Love needs those reps, and let’s not forget that Bortles was barely in the NFL last season.

The former third overall pick was the Jacksonville quarterback from 2014 through 2018 and led the Jaguars to the AFC Championship game in 2017 that they should have won. That was the only season that Jacksonville finished above .500 with Bortles as the starter as he threw for 3,687 yards with 21 touchdowns to 13 interceptions.

However, much of his career has been spent mired in inconsistency. Bortles’ career completion rate is only 59 percent, and he was 103 touchdowns to 75 interceptions and led the league in that category in 2015. He would spend 2019 as a backup in Los Angeles and time on Denver’s practice squad in 2020.

Given the Green Bay Packers’ need at the quarterback position, from a fit standpoint, this is a signing that made a lot of sense. During Bortles’ run in Jacksonville, Nathaniel Hackett was his offensive coordinator, and he should be able to pick up LaFleur’s scheme relatively quickly after spending a year with Sean McVay and the Rams.

Kurt Benkert

The Green Bay Packers signed Kurt Benkert to the 90-man roster after having him in for a tryout during rookie camp. Benkert spent his first three seasons with Atlanta after going undrafted in 2018. He would miss all of 2019 with an injury and was on the practice squad the other two years. He has no career regular-season NFL snaps.

Benkert began his college career at Eastern Carolina, where he saw little playing time but would become the full-time starter at Virginia after transferring. In 24 games with the Cavaliers, he would throw for almost 5,800 yards, tossing 46 touchdowns to 20 interceptions, while completing 58 percent of his throws at 6.3 yards per attempt.

Benkert is likely just a camp arm with the potential to be the team’s practice squad quarterback this season.