The third guy
Packers third-string quarterback Kurt Benkert sees benefits in being at the bottom of the depth chart.
GREEN BAY – He’d never met his general manager before. Terry Fontenot hadn’t been in Atlanta long, barely a month. So when Kurt Benkert’s phone buzzed in February, and it was Fontenot on the other line, the young quarterback instantly perked up.
The excitement disappeared almost immediately.
“I was like, ‘Hey, nice to meet you,’ ” Benkert said. “And he was like, ‘Hey, yeah. This isn’t that type of call.’”
Fontenot, like many new GMs, was clearing the Falcons roster to remake it in his image. Benkert didn’t make the cut. He was among three roster releases that February morning. For two months, his future was put on pause.
Benkert went home to southwest Florida and continued to work out at a Pop Warner field, waiting, hoping for another phone call.
The silence broke in mid-May. The Green Bay Packers, a team immersed in a quarterback hailstorm, needed to add to their position. Benkert was invited to a tryout alongside Chad Kelly. He didn't have the most famous surname, Kelly being the nephew of Buffalo Bills legend Jim Kelly, but he won the tryout anyway.
So now Benkert is living a familiar life, his fourth straight season buried on an NFL depth chart. He spent three seasons in Atlanta, learning from former MVP Matt Ryan. Now he's learning from three-time MVP Aaron Rodgers.
There are worse situations to incubate a young quarterback. Benkert knows he's fortunate.
“I don't know,” Benkert said, “I did my chores growing up. I've been really fortunate to be behind some good guys that have done it for a really long time.”
It's a unique existence, one Benkert has had plenty of time to perfect. Nothing is expected of a third quarterback, yet he must prepare as if the entire team is on his shoulders. Because two wrong twists of a knee, and it could be. Benkert doesn't get many practice reps to prepare — especially on a Packers team devoted to accelerating Jordan Love's development — but must be ready anyway.
Not that Benkert is surprised with the lack of reps. When he signed, Rodgers' future with the team for the 2021 season was anything but certain. This was always going to be the summer of Jordan Love.
“I know that there are minimal reps,” Benkert said. “You have to know the game plan, know how to function, how to operate and fix problems, and then also go perform. I think it's just about straddling that line between wanting to make big plays, and wanting to do your job, especially with not as many reps.
“I know in preseason, just out of a third guy, they expect you to just go in, operate, get the ball in other guys' hands, make good plays, smart plays and take care of the football. So I kind of know that's what I need to do.”
Even knowing what to expect in Green Bay, Benkert wasted no time leaving that Pop Warner field behind in southwest Florida. He and his wife, Samantha, sold their house in Cape Coral, Florida, this summer. They made the 23-hour drive to Green Bay shortly after in early July, stopping in Tennessee and Louisville along the way. “Me, my wife, a baby and two dogs in a Kia Telluride,” Benkert said. “It was a hell of a trip.” There was almost a month until training camp when the Benkerts arrived. So they made themselves at home in Green Bay.
Benkert's role in this camp became clear two days before it began. Rodgers would be back in town, cementing Benkert's place as No. 3. Not that Benkert minded. In college, coaches told him to find quarterbacks in the league to emulate. They needed to play his style, only better.
He identified two: Rodgers and Matthew Stafford. Over the years, he has pored through Rodgers' film. On the first day of camp, Benkert finally got to meet his muse.
Their first meeting just didn't happen the way he always anticipated.
“I was walking into the bathroom,” Benkert said, “and in walks Aaron. And I've never met him before. It's like, ‘Hey, nice to meet you, but I have to go to the bathroom.' That was my first time meeting him. So I didn't really picture it going that way.”
Instead of watching from afar, Benkert said it's been helpful sharing a practice field and meeting room with Rodgers. He's no longer forced to guess what's coursing through Rodgers' mind as he makes plays. Now, he can simply ask.
Rodgers has been willing to give as much advice as Benkert wants. The two have been seen on the practice field going through their footwork between drills. Rodgers said he has stressed balance in Benkert's drops, and ensuring each step has a purpose.
“That's one thing I'm trying to help Kurt with,” Rodgers said, “is just understanding why I'm doing things. Because a lot of times with me watching Brett (Favre), I could see what he was doing, but I didn't really understand why he was doing it.”
It's been a winding path that has taken Benkert to Green Bay. It started at Eastern Carolina in 2014, where Benkert played two games in three years. He transferred to Virginia, where he was a two-year starter. The Cavaliers were 210 (1-7 ACC) during Benkert's first season as starter. They improved to 6-7 (3-5 ACC) in his second.
Benkert was undrafted. He spent the 2019 season on injured reserve because of a bad toe. He's been released. He's gotten his second chance.
He's the other quarterback on the Packers' roster. Not the three-time MVP. Not the heir apparent, either. Regardless, Benkert is determined to make the most out of his time here.
He expects the experience to be well worth that 23-hour drive north.