What You Need to Know: Danny Etling Takes Over as QB3 for Packers

With the Green Bay Packers making the decision to move on from quarterback Kurt Benkert, Danny Etling, who was presumably the fourth quarterback on the roster, moves up to QB3, which in all likelihood would land him on the practice squad–as long as another addition isn’t made.

What you need to know about the Packers’ third quarterback, Danny Etling

Etling was signed earlier this offseason, but OTAs wasn’t his first time in a Green Bay Packers uniform. With Jordan Love on the reserve/COVID list in early December, Benkert was elevated to the 53-man roster, and Etling was brought in for depth on the practice squad. He was then released once Love made his return.

Etling was a seventh-round pick in 2018 by New England, and as Bill Huber of SI wrote, he’s had quite the journey up to this point.

After spending the 2018 season on the Patriots practice squad as a quarterback, he would make the move to receiver in 2019 before he was cut during training camp. Etling would then sign with Atlanta, where he spent 2019 on their practice squad as a quarterback.

He then spent the 2020 season on Seattle’s practice squad before spending time with Minnesota, then a brief stint in the CFL, Seattle once again, Denver, and Green Bay in 2021.

The 6’3″ – 225-pound Etling began his college career at Purdue, where in 2014, he completed 55% of his passes on 162 attempts for 800 yards with six touchdowns and five interceptions per PFF ($$). He would then transfer to LSU, where he had two years of playing time in 2016 and 2017.

During that span, Etling just under 60% of his pass attempts where he averaged 8.5 yards per pass with 27 touchdown passes and only seven interceptions. In 2017, Etling ranked 10th out of all college quarterbacks, averaging 9.2 yards per attempt. He finished his career averaging 4.4 yards per carry on the ground as well.

For some insight into what a draft analyst had to say about Etling’s game coming out of LSU, here is a look at Lance Zierlein’s pre-draft report:

"“Etling has decent size and an NFL arm, but his mechanical inconsistencies — often brought on by impending pressure, are big concerns moving forward. Etling will have to prove he can improve his poise in the pocket as well as his ability to win with his progressions and decision-making after the snap. Etling may find an invite into camp, but will face long odds in making a roster.”"

Etling has no career regular-season snaps at the NFL level. Meanwhile, for what it’s worth, in the preseason — which he appeared in during just the 2018 and 2019 seasons — Etling has completed 54% of his 69 attempts and is averaging just 5.4 yards per attempt with a pair of touchdowns and a pair of interceptions as well.

Initially, I did mention that Etling will be QB3 as long as there isn’t another addition. With only Etling, Aaron Rodgers, and Jordan Love on the roster at the moment, Etling will hold that title by default, but it’s fairly common for NFL teams to go into training camp and the preseason with four quarterbacks on the roster.

For one, there are a lot of snaps to go around in those practices with 90 players on the roster, and with Rodgers not going to play in any preseason games, that leaves the Packers with only two active quarterbacks those weeks. So with an open roster spot, I wouldn’t be surprised if Green Bay brought in another quarterback.

Now, to take a look at this from a different perspective, perhaps the Packers plan on Love taking a very large portion of the snaps this summer — after Rodgers, of course — and don’t feel the need for a third quarterback. Additionally, Etling must have also impressed during OTAs and minicamp, to the point where the team felt comfortable moving on from Benkert.

Only time will tell, but the Packers now have an open roster spot available after releasing Benkert. A few positions of need include receiver, edge rusher, safety, cornerback, and who knows, maybe quarterback–but for now, the title of QB3 belongs to Etling.