Traveler Boyle eyes spot in Green Bay
It's not quite Ray Nitschke Field and he may not be throwing to NFL pass catchers, but Tim Boyle is getting his work in — legally.
The 25-year-old Green Bay Packers quarterback is home in Connecticut and doing his best to stay in shape, but not before he vetted his workout partners and then checked in with local authorities for clearance to coordinate throwing sessions.
Such responsibilities don't seem so strange now, in the context of a world turned on its head since the last time Boyle was at Lambeau Field in mid-January. And it's just been part of a wholly unique offseason for him — complete with bathing elephants, racing to avoid being stranded in the United Arab Emirates and the Packers drafting of a first-round quarterback.
Entering his third season, Boyle has taken a Zen-like approach to what is shaping up to be a defining spring and summer.
“I'm trying not to let this virus throw off my schedule and my
work ethic too bad,” he said. “Obviously it's challenging and you have to find different ways to do things but staying in shape is definitely priority No. 1 because this might be a situation where we get a phone call and we have to fly into Green Bay and within the next week or two weeks we're throwing on pads and hitting the ground running. It's up to me to make sure I'm throwing the ball and staying sharp and I'm ready to go.”
A step ahead
Undergoing a virtual offseason is not ideal, but especially for a quarterback who has appeared in three career NFL games, having completed 3 of 4 passes for 15 yards and being asked to down it five times for minus-7 yards in 21 snaps.
Yet on the field at Xavier High School in his hometown of Middletown, Connecticut, Boyle feels he does have plenty to build off — a year of working knowledge of head coach Matt LaFleur's playbook and two years of detailed quarterback preparation under Aaron Rodgers.
So while he isn't throwing out routes to Jake Kumerow or deep posts to Marquez Valdes-Scantling in the Northeast, he is able to direct his pass catchers on what exactly he needs them to do to get him into shape to compete for a roster spot for the third straight season.
“I have a group of guys I've been throwing with and we try to go two to three times a week — it's good work,” he said. “It's a positive for me, in my opinion, not having a guy (on the team) because I have to explain it. I have to dig into my brain and tell these guys what I'm looking for. And when you truly understand something is when you can teach it to someone and you can spit it out fluently. It's been good practice for me to teach these receivers what I'm looking for with certain route depths, where they are on the field, are they minus-one or plus-two on the hash? It's the little details that I've been working on, which is a positive in my mind.”
Boyle, who spoke on the eve of the NFL draft, was presented with the scenario of a first-round quarterback being selected and what that could mean for him — and the thought clearly was not a
Green Bay Packers reserve quarterback Tim Boyle completed 3 of 4 passes for 15 yards last season. foreign one.
“Obviously another quarterback is going to be added — my whole career I've always said this — you can control the controllables,” he said. “How I make myself feel better and a better player is by working out, staying in shape, throwing, keeping my mind and my body sharp and that's what I can control. That's what I'm going to do to put myself in the best position to be the backup again.”
First-round pick Jordan Love will not have the benefit of a rookie camp or the early organized team activities — and in all likelihood any work in June — so if training camp does begin on time in late July, Boyle is positioned to make general manager Brian Gutekunst think long and hard about keeping three quarterbacks on the roster, as he did in 2018 when Boyle earned a job as an undrafted rookie.
Or, should there be preseason games, Boyle could create interest among NFL teams in need of quarterbacking depth. But for Boyle, his mindset isn't any different than if the team drafted a quarterback in any other round, traded for a former high pick or signed additional rookie free agents.
“I know that,” Boyle said flatly. “It's going to be another dogfight this year. I know that it's going to be a dogfight every year for me and that's how I view it. They're looking for guys to try to replace (me) and that's the industry that we're in.
It's all production-based and it's may the best man win. I love that. It's competition at the highest level and that's how it should be.”
An unforgettable trip
Football, even in its current altered state, was a return to a comfort zone after a whirlwind March that saw Boyle leave New York for Southeast Asia and then try to return through the Middle East back to New York just as the coronavirus pandemic made a similar path across the globe.
Boyle had booked a trip to Thailand with his sisters Amanda and Amy and cousin Michael sixth months prior, but as the virus began spreading across the globe they kept a close eye on its movement to, and within, Thailand. Ultimately, the group decided they could safely go — and for 10 days they traveled the country.
It was Boyle's first trip to that part of the world, and as a spiritual man he found the people, culture and religion enlightening and the geography breathtaking. They were awed by the size of Bangkok, took in the mountains of Chiang Mai and the blue waters and rock formations of Krabi. And on a trip to an elephant sanctuary, the group discovered they were the only tourists to go — so they each had an elephant to feed, bathe and make medicine for.
“It really was beautiful,” he said. “Obviously being in temples and being around a new religion and a new language and having to deal with that barrier was difficult at times, but also interesting. That's half the fun, is being able to survive and have conversations with people and piecing words together and learning a new language and understanding a new culture, a new religion.
“That was very, very cool for me, especially at this point in my life wanting to learn and grow and understand different things, different cultures, religions. It was definitely an awesome experience, learning experience for me.”
As they moved around Thailand, the coronavirus began to ravage New York and they did see if they could cut their trip short to get home earlier — but every flight was booked. So they kept their original reservations, but the window to get home was shortening as the United Arab Emirates was beginning to shut down international travel. Boyle said they did not have to reschedule or re-route, but they did have anxious moments until they were finally on their way home.
Back stateside, Boyle got an up-close look at how quickly life had changed in the time he was gone. He still had a week on his apartment rental right off Times Square in New York City and as he finished up his stay and prepared to move back to Connecticut, the bustling metropolis he had left less than two weeks before was anything but.
His nights of walking around the city to people-watch and catch Broadway shows were done.
“Right when we got back in the country it was a rude awakening because New York City was kind of a ghost town,” he said. “Roads are empty. You're not used to seeing Times Square scot-free, nothing there. It was interesting because we left just as things started to pick up, we got to Thailand and things were just kind of casual. We honestly forgot about it over there because no one was really freaking out. I think they had less than a hundred cases in the whole country of Thailand (at the time).
“Then we got back here and it was a slap in the face.”
Boyle and his sisters self-quarantined in New Jersey before moving back to Connecticut, and once he settled there he was much like everyone else — trying to find ways to stay active and in shape safely. Before moving out of New York he put about a dozen water bottles in a backpack to squat. In Connecticut he does have a home gym but worked in dumbbells and bands.
He developed a professionally trained base for the better part of two months at TEST Sports Club in New Jersey after the NFC championship game, but now it was on him to turn inward as his own motivator and coach, while also sharpening his communicative and leadership skills with his local workout partners.
“I have a decent setup here,” he said. “Obviously not ideal, but at this point you just have to adjust and improvise and take care of business and make sure my body is right for whenever we get called back I'm ready to hit the ground running from a physical standpoint and mental standpoint.”
Contact Jim Owczarski at jowczarski@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat at @JimOwczarski or Facebook at facebook.com/JOwczarski.