QB Needy Green Bay Packers Bringing Back Blake Bortles

With Aaron Rodgers and Kurt Benkert both on the reserve/COVID list, the Green Bay Packers are left with only one available quarterback—Jordan Love, who will start Sunday in Kansas City, as Matt LaFleur recently mentioned.

It goes without saying, but the Green Bay Packers need another quarterback on the roster, and reportedly, that is going to be Blake Bortles, who spent time with the team this summer.

Bortles was signed by Green Bay in early May for offseason programs and was eventually released in late July when Rodgers returned. To put it simply, the Packers needed camp bodies at the quarterback position at the time.

Bortles spent the 2019 season with the Los Angeles Rams as a backup, so in addition to the two months he spent in Green Bay over the summer, there was already some familiarity with the LaFleur offense given the overlap between his system and that of Sean McVay’s.

Bortles is a former first-round pick by Jacksonville in 2014 and his best NFL season came in 2017 when he led the Jaguars to the AFC Championship Game, when Nathaniel Hackett was his offensive coordinator—again, another connection.

That season he threw for 3.687 yards and averaged 7.0 yards per attempt. Bortles also had 21 touchdowns and 13 interceptions—something that has plagued him over his career. 2018 was his last as a starter, where he appeared in 13 games.

Since then, Bortles has bounced around to various practice squads.

This is a move for needed depth and nothing more. The Green Bay Packers have to be prepared in case Love can’t play or if he were to get injured and Bortles provides them with a veteran presence.

There is still the possibility that Benkert could return before Sunday’s game as long as he has back-to-back negative COVID tests 24 hours apart—but it’s just that, a possibility. So for the time being, Bortles is QB2 in Green Bay.