Signs point to Rodgers bouncing back
But No. 2 quarterback spot still up for grabs
First in a series of nine position previews leading up to the Green Bay Packers’ 2019 training camp.
GREEN BAY - Last year was one of the strangest in recent Green Bay Packers history, with Aaron Rodgers playing in 16 games and missing the playoffs when doing so for the first time since 2008.
Rodgers was knocked out of part of the season opener against Chicago but returned to lead a dramatic comeback victory. He missed most of the season finale against Detroit after suffering a
concussion. In between, he played on a tibial plateau fracture and sprained medial collateral ligament, en route to perhaps his most uneven season throwing the ball.
The offense sputtered and there was a coaching change that, for all intents and purposes, was made to get the 35year-old back to MVP form.
Rodgers seemed to have recovered fully from the broken collarbone that truncated his 2017 campaign, but this marks the second straight year the quarterback is coming back from a severe injury.
Backup DeShone Kizer struggled again when given a chance to see the field (20-for-42, 187 yards, no TDs, three turnovers) and third-stringer Tim Boyle never saw game action. Boyle did receive important practice reps, however, when Rodgers missed the bulk of practices early in the season.
With Rodgers turning 36 in December, it’s imperative that new head coach and play caller Matt LaFleur not only gets on the same page with him quickly but also that the team determines which backup quarterback can win games if called upon.
Quarterbacks
Roster lock: Aaron Rodgers.
Good bet: It is impossible to say at this juncture who the clear-cut backup is.
On the bubble: DeShone Kizer and Tim Boyle. Last year, the Packers elected to carry three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster all season. Kizer was forced into action twice for an injured Rodgers and Boyle never played. It’s a new staff and a new offense and in each of new head coach Matt LaFleur’s previous three stops, only two quarterbacks have been kept on the 53-man roster.
Long shot: Undrafted rookie Manny Wilkins. Already at a disadvantage in experience, it’s unlikely Wilkins would beat out both Kizer and Boyle.
Biggest offseason move
Hiring LaFleur, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy. All three are in the quarterback room, coaching fundamentals and teaching the offense. This is the first time Rodgers has been in a different offense in his entire career, so it is a crash course in not just the playbook but also building a relationship with his new play caller (LaFleur). Getsy played the position in college, and LaFleur and Hackett have each coached quarterbacks in the NFL. The team clearly felt this was the biggest change and upgrade needed for the group in 2019.
Position battle
While general manager Brian Gutekunst has control over the 53-man roster, from 2015-18 LaFleur has never coached on a team that dedicated three of those spots to quarterbacks. This is Kizer’s fourth head coach and third offense in three years, and Boyle hasn’t played in a game since the 2018 preseason finale. It’s fair to wonder about where Kizer is in his development as third-year quarterback, as the Cleveland Browns and Packers are 1-17 in games in which he has thrown passes — with that one victory coming thanks to Rodgers’ stunning second-half return in the 2018 season opener to beat Chicago. Kizer is just 23, but has completed only 53.1% of his passes while throwing 24 interceptions against 11 touchdowns. He’s also fumbled the ball away eight times. Boyle remains a mystery, though he possesses good size and a strong throwing arm.
Keep an eye on
Boyle’s snaps in training camp and preseason games. Kizer may be given a clean slate by this coaching staff, and he went to work on his mechanics under noted instructor Adam Dedeaux, but he has 518 career pass attempts in the NFL on film. Remember, Boyle was buried in last year’s training camp depth chart by
not just Rodgers and Kizer, but former backup Brett Hundley. He received the most practice reps and game reps after Hundley was traded following the third preseason game and then early in the year when he received backup reps to Kizer in practice. Now, LaFleur saw Boyle play up close in the first preseason game last year, a 7-for-15, 130-yard, 2TD effort against Tennessee, but it’s important to remember just how little real action the second-year QB has seen. This new coaching staff may want to give him every chance to show what he can do.
Key question
Are Kizer and Boyle ready to win in 2019? A year ago, Kizer faltered in relief against Chicago and Detroit. The year before that, Hundley couldn’t quite keep the team afloat. The Packers haven’t had a game-tested veteran backup since Matt Flynn was around in 2014 (Scott Tolzien made two starts in three years from 2013-15). Perhaps Gutekunst feels the trio of LaFleur-Hackett-Getsy are enough to get Kizer and Boyle ready to win in case Rodgers misses some game action for the third straight year, but that has yet to be proven on the field.
Prediction
Rodgers will be back in the Most Valuable Player conversation with a statistical “bounce-back” season. Last year he completed 62.3% of his throws, his lowest rate since 2015. He threw for 25 touchdowns, the lowest full-season total of his career. LaFleur has only one season of play calling under his belt, so this prediction is based a lot off of schematic projection — but from 2015-17 the Falcons’ Matt Ryan and the Rams’ Jared Goff averaged at least 7.5 yards per attempt in this system, a number Rodgers hasn’t reached since 2014. Ryan (2016) and Goff (2017) each had ratings of over 100, something Rodgers hasn’t done the last two years. Marcus Mariota (2018) and Ryan (2015-16) each completed passes from 66 to 69.9 percent of the time, thresholds Rodgers hasn’t hit since 2011-13.