Boyle Thankful for Rodgers, Opportunity with Lions

“Having three years under my belt underneath Aaron Rodgers and understanding how he sees the game and what helps him physically, I feel like I have a good recipe moving forward.”

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Three years ago, opportunity knocked for a mistake-prone but talented rookie quarterback named Tim Boyle. It was the Green Bay Packers, with Aaron Rodgers the established starter.

On Wednesday, opportunity knocked again for Boyle, a much more polished quarterback after three seasons alongside Rodgers. It was the Detroit Lions.

With Boyle’s path to playing time blocked in Green Bay by 2020 first-round pick Jordan Love, Boyle leapt at the opportunity to join a division rival. The Lions had traded their established starter, Matthew Stafford, and replaced him with former No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff, whose star had fallen following back-to-back subpar seasons.

“The first-and-foremost answer I’d give you is opportunity. I can come in and compete,” Boyle said in a phone interview on Thursday when asked why he picked the Lions and their one-year, $2.5 million contract offer. “I was obviously attracted to that and, obviously, the financial commitment was another piece. That’s always the interesting part about the NFL is you’re loyal to a team but you always have to look for the next step in your career. I think the Lions give me that opportunity. I can’t wait to fly out there, sign the paperwork and get working on the offense.”

Boyle wouldn’t go so far as to say his goal was to compete with Goff for the starting job. Rather, the focus was internal – to continue to build upon the foundation laid in Green Bay.

“Wherever that leads me is up to the universe,” he said.

Following a difficult college career, Boyle used a strong preseason to make the roster in 2018. In 2019, he led the NFL in preseason passer rating to beat out DeShone Kizer for the No. 2 job. In 2020, his high-quality training camp ended the battle with Love before it started.

That step-by-step progression has Boyle ready for the next stage of his career.

“I’m ready to play winning football [after] being with the Packers for three years and understanding what it takes to play winning football and be on a team that had success and understanding what it takes,” Boyle said. “Obviously, being behind Aaron, he’s crucial to my entire development. I wouldn’t be anywhere near as close to where I am right now without Aaron Rodgers. Yes, I do believe that I’m ready to go. I’m ready to play winning football. I just want the opportunity. From there, it’s just up to me. I have to play good football at that point. I’m comfortable and I’m confident in where my game is at right now, and I’m going to make the most of my opportunity.”

Rodgers was more than just a mentor to Boyle. He became “an incredibly amazing friend” over their three years together. Boyle joined himself to Rodgers’ hip to soak up every drop of wisdom. That spurred Boyle’s remarkable growth and put him in position to land in Detroit after the Packers, with their commitment to Love, didn’t tender him as a restricted free agent.

“From an X’s and O’s standpoint, you guys saw me,” Boyle said. “I wanted to understand what made him tick and I wanted to understand what made him great and I wanted to understand how he saw the game. I asked him questions and he would do a great job of explaining things to me. Now, having three years under my belt underneath Aaron Rodgers and understanding how he sees the game and what helps him physically, I feel like I have a good recipe moving forward.”

Boyle made the most of his lessons. He’s always had talent. What he didn’t have in college was success. Playing for Connecticut, his home-state school, Boyle completed 48.4 percent of his passes with an unthinkably bad one touchdown vs. 13 interceptions from 2013 through 2015. Boyle transferred to Eastern Kentucky and regrouped mentally as a redshirt in 2016 but still threw more interceptions (13) than touchdowns (11) in 2017.

Contrast that to the 2019 preseason, when he threw six touchdowns vs. zero interceptions.

“People are always going to judge me by my college days but it lights a little bit of a fire under my butt and continues to keep that chip on my shoulder,” Boyle said. “Not that I’m out here proving people wrong but it’s always nice to be, ‘Oh, maybe he’s not that kid who threw all those interceptions and didn’t play well in college. Maybe he is a good quarterback who has something to offer. Let’s see what he’s about.’ I love doing that. It comes from a pure, genuine place on my behalf of trying to prove people wrong and show them the real side of me. I think the real side of me is a good football player who cares about the team he’s on.”

Boyle was all about business in training camp this summer. Unbowed by the high-profile addition to the quarterback room, Boyle’s biggest battle didn’t come against Love. With the elimination of offseason practices, a late start to training camp and no preseason games due to COVID-19, Boyle won that battle in a rout. Rather, the biggest battles came during a series of WWE-style fights with the MVP quarterback.

“There’s an initial video of the ball kind of flopping around and I went to go pick it up and Aaron kicked it,” Boyle explained of the impetus behind those lighthearted battles. “I went to go approach him and he gave me a fake jab. That whole thing got caught on tape. It might have been the next day, Aaron and I kind of schemed up – more so Aaron – ‘Hey, give me a little push. We’ll make it good for them today.’ He took a little tumble and, from there, it was one win for him, one win for me.

“He kicked the ball from under my hands, I’d push him down. That night, he texted me and said, ‘It’s on’ for Day 3. So, that’s when you guys saw us in Lambeau during a scrimmage. That was a legit takedown. That was him trying to take me down and I was trying to do the same and it led to good fun. That’s just an example of that relationship we had, that comfort. I’m so grateful for that. The fact that he allowed me into his life and trusted me to be his backup, his friend, it means the absolute world to me.”

Despite Boyle’s gains, general manager Brian Gutekunst cast his lot with Love as the quarterback for the future. Rodgers, despite a blast-from-the-past season that ended with him winning his third MVP award, faces an uncertain long-term future with the team. Meanwhile, given Goff’s fall after leading the Rams to the Super Bowl in 2018 and the $15.5 million roster bonus he’s due at this time next year, the door could be open for Boyle to be the Lions’ quarterback of the future.

That could set the stage for a Boyle vs. Love matchup.

“Yeah, it would be interesting,” Boyle said. “Who knows what the future will hold? Jordan’s got a bright future and he’s going to do well in Green Bay. He just needs to continue to do what he’s doing and trust the process and he’s going to be all set.”

Earlier Thursday, Boyle said his goodbye via Instagram. At the end of the phone interview, he wanted to reiterate his love for Green Bay, his teammates and the fans.

“I meant that from the heart,” he said. “I met so many amazing people, made so many amazing memories. It was a special time that I will never forget.”