Packers Will Roll with Three QBs

The decision is in response to COVID-19 challenges and the lack of a preseason.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will keep three quarterbacks on their roster, coach Matt LaFleur said on Thursday. That’s a necessary change over last year, when the team carried only Aaron Rodgers and Tim Boyle on the roster.

The COVID-19 pandemic has added a new wrinkle to forming and maintaining roster. No longer is injury the only concern, meaning have three quarterbacks is practically a necessity. Otherwise, imagine the starting quarterback goes down in the game after the backup quarterback tested positive and was put into quarantine earlier in the morning.

The Packers released strong-armed Jalen Morton, an undrafted free agent from Prairie View A&M, earlier in the week. That was a logistical decision from coach Matt LaFleur. Having lost the offseason workouts and with no preseason games, the number of reps for his quarterbacks has been slashed.

Thus, the Packers will go into the on-the-field phase of training camp and, presumably, the regular season with Rodgers, Boyle and first-round pick Jordan Love.

“I think it was twofold,” LaFleur said. “Right now, we’re at 80 in the building and so that played a part of it. Certainly, it’s the lack of the preseason games. I think anytime throughout a training camp it’s really, really difficult to get four guys reps and, especially, meaningful reps where they can go out and you can see that improvement. So with the three guys, we wanted to focus on the three that we have that we know we’re going to have, I believe, on our roster.”

LaFleur says the team’s first official practice will be held Aug. 15, with padded practices beginning two days later on Aug. 17. Love vs. Boyle will be a hot battle, with Boyle’s experience and knowledge of the system perhaps giving him the early edge to be Rodgers’ backup.