These Quarterbacks Might Not Be on Packers’ NFL Draft Board

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said he’d like to draft a quarterback. He also tends to strictly follow physical traits. The team’s history could help show who is and who is not on the draft board.

Tennessee QB Joe Milton / Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports

GREEN BAY, Wis. – At the Scouting Combine, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst not only raved about quarterback Jordan Love but his young backup, Sean Clifford.

Nonetheless, he said he’d like to get back to regularly drafting quarterbacks, like Ron Wolf used to do with the likes Aaron Brooks and Matt Hasselbeck even with Brett Favre atop the depth chart.

No different than Ted Thompson, who drafted Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn as the team transitioned to Aaron Rodgers in 2008, Gutekunst drafted Clifford as the team transitioned to Love in 2023. However, the third quarterback is Alex McGough. Grabbing another talented passer would create more competition and, perhaps, lead to a quality trade in a year or two.

Starting with Aaron Rodgers in 2005, Green Bay has drafted eight quarterbacks the past 18 years. Will Gutekunst be successful in making it nine? If so, who might it be? Let’s narrow the field based on history.

(This story does not include the six potential first-round picks: USC’s Caleb Williams, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, North Carolina’s Drake Maye, Oregon’s Bo Nix, Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr.)

Hand Size

Other than arm talent and poise under pressure, hand size might be the most important trait. It gets cold in Green Bay, after all, and big hands mean better ball security. That’s evident in the history of Green Bay’s drafted quarterbacks.

- Aaron Rodgers (2005), 10 1/8 inches

- Ingle Martin (2006), 9 1/2 inches

- Brian Brohm (2008), 9 3/4 inches

- Matt Flynn (2008), 9 1/4 inches

- B.J. Coleman (2012), 10 3/8 inches

- Brett Hundley (2015), 10 1/2 inches

- Jordan Love (2020), 10 1/2 inches

- Sean Clifford (2022), 9 5/8 inches

- A couple recent backups who were not drafted by the Packers: DeShone Kizer (9 7/8) and Tim Boyle (9 5/8). Last training camp, McGough (9 1/8 hands) beat out Danny Etling (9 3/8) for the spot on the practice squad.

The historic Scouting Combine average is just shy of 9 5/8 inches. Only Flynn had smaller hands; Rodgers was among four quarterbacks with hands at least a half-inch larger.

Allowing for a Flynn-style flyer, these quarterbacks might not be on the board:

Tulane’s Michael Pratt: 9 1/4 inches

Kansas’ Jason Bean: 9 1/8 inches

Florida State’s Jordan Travis: 9 inches

Central Florida’s John Rhys-Plumlee: 8 7/8 inches

But bonus points to:

Tennessee’s Joe Milton: 10 1/4 inches

South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler: 9 7/8 inches

BYU’s Kedon Slovis: 9 7/8 inches

Western Kentucky’s Austin Reed: 9 7/8 inches

Height

The Packers don’t like short players at any positions. That includes quarterbacks. Rodgers is the shortest of the drafted quarterbacks at exactly 6-foot-2. Of the current depth chart, Love is 6-foot-3 3/4, Clifford is 6-foot-2 and McGough is 6-foot-3 3/8.

With that, these quarterbacks might not be on the board:

- Maryland’s Taulia Tagovailoa: 5-foot-10 3/4

- Central Florida’s John Rhys-Plumlee: 5-foot-11 3/4

- South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler 6-foot 1/2

These quarterbacks could be on the fringe:  

- Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman: 6-foot-1 1/8

- Florida State’s Jordan Travis 6-foot-1 1/8

- Kentucky’s Devin Leary 6-foot-1 1/4

Interestingly, there appears to be a Goldilocks thought on height. Of the drafted quarterbacks, Love is the tallest. Kizer measured 6-foot-4 1/4.

Tennessee’s Milton is the only unusually tall quarterback at 6-foot-5 1/8.

Athleticism

The historic Scouting Combine average in the 40-yard dash is 4.823 seconds. Green Bay’s 40 times: Clifford, 4.62; Hundley, 4.63; Rodgers, 4.71; Martin, 4.71; Love, 4.74; Flynn, 4.79, Brohm, 4.81; Kizer, 4.83; Coleman, 4.94. Thus, really only Coleman, a seventh-round pick, missed the mark.

Several quarterbacks didn’t run a 40 in this draft cycle. The only one slower than that Combine average was South Carolina’s Rattler (4.95).

Relative Athletic Score

Relative Athletic Score is a formula that combines a player’s height, speed, 40 time and other testing numbers into one position-based score ranging from 0 (terrible) to 10 (elite). To help with comparisons, players are divided into three color-coded groups, with green being 8.0 to 10.0, yellow being 5.0 to 7.99 and red being everyone less than 5.0.

Dating to Thompson’s selection of Rodgers in 2005, four were green (Hundley, 9.91; Clifford, 9.01; Martin, 8.93; and Love, 8.54), three were solidly yellow (Flynn, 7.09; Brohm, 6.84; and Rodgers, 6.35) and one was barely yellow (Coleman, 5.23). The others mentioned in this story: Boyle’s RAS was 8.71, Etling’s was 8.41, McGough’s was 7.85 and Kizer’s was just below-average at 4.99.

Several quarterbacks didn’t go through enough testing to have a RAS. South Carolina’s Rattler (4.00) and Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman (3.81) had the low scores among the passers listed in this story.

The Best Quarterback Fits

Talking purely about measureable traits, these quarterbacks best meet the team’s standards:

BYU’s Kedon Slovis: 6-foot-2 1/2, 223 pounds, 9 7/8 hands. 4.55 40, 9.34 RAS

South Alabama’s Carter Bradley: 6-foot-3 1/8, 213 pounds, 9 3/8 hands. 4.82 40, 8.56 RAS

Western Kentucky’s Austin Reed 6-foot-1 1/2, 220 pounds, 9 7/8 hands. 4.82 40, NA RAS

And perhaps on the fringe:

Tulane’s Michael Pratt: 6-foot-2 1/2, 217 pounds, 9 1/4 hands. DNP 40, 8.27 RAS

Kentucky’s Devin Leary: 6-foot-1 1/4, 215 pounds, 9 1/2 hands. DNP 40, NA RAS

Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman: 6-foot-1 1/8, 211 pounds, 9 3/4 hands. 4.80 40, 3.81 RAS

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