Packer Central

With Jordan Love Injured, Packers Make Predictable Roster Move

In a move that doesn’t necessarily mean anything one way or the other on the status of Jordan Love, Sean Clifford will be on the roster for Sunday’s Packers-Colts game.

Bill Huber

Packers QB Sean Clifford gets ready to throw the ball against Denver in the preseason.
Packers QB Sean Clifford gets ready to throw the ball against Denver in the preseason. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are elevating quarterback Sean Clifford from the practice squad for Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, Packers On SI learned on Saturday morning.

The team made the move official on Saturday afternoon and downgraded quarterback Jordan Love from questionable to doubtful.

With Love hobbled by a knee injury sustained last week, this was the obvious move in providing depth at quarterback behind Malik Willis.

Love was questionable on Friday’s injury report after not practicing all week. Really, nobody expected him to play, though coach Matt LaFleur at least publicly kept the door open in case Love was cleared by the medical staff.

Love didn’t clear that hurdle, so the Packers will go with Willis as the starter. Clifford will serve as the No. 2 in case Willis gets injured or is ineffective.

Because the Packers didn’t place Love on injured reserve, they didn’t need to sign Clifford to the 53-man roster. Players can be elevated from the practice squad three times before they must be signed to the 53.

Clifford was the backup last year, when the rookie fifth-round pick put together a solid training camp and preseason to easily win the job.

Clifford entered training camp as the backup this year and faced a challenge from seventh-round rookie Michael Pratt.

Ultimately, neither player performed well enough to earn the job, so general manager Brian Gutekunst traded for Willis on Aug. 26 and released Clifford and Pratt on Aug. 27. On Aug. 28, the Packers signed Clifford to the practice squad.

Clifford got some No. 1 reps during practice this week.

“He’ll be ready to roll,” LaFleur said on Friday. “He’s been here, he’s had a lot of significant time here. Although typically he didn’t get as many reps as probably he would have liked, I have complete confidence that he has enough banked reps in what we’ve done that he can go out there and perform.”

As a rookie, Clifford 13 snaps during the regular season and three snaps in the playoff win vs. Dallas. He completed his only pass, a 37-yarder to Bo Melton in the final moments at Minnesota on New Year’s Eve. It’s interesting (and irrelevant) to note that Clifford is No. 1 in NFL history among quarterbacks in yards per passing attempt, according to Stathead.

“We’ve seen enough over time, throughout the course of last season,” LaFleur said. “I think even last training camp, the game action in the preseason, as well as how he’s performed on the look team. So, got complete confidence that if he’s called upon that he’ll be able to go out there and execute.”

While a rotation at quarterback would be a little unorthodox – the Saints had a package for Taysom Hill even with Drew Brees at quarterback – it’s certainly not out off the realm of possibility that Clifford could play meaningful snaps because of his knowledge of the offense and the proper adjustments and his history with the receivers.

In that light, in the final preseason game against Baltimore, Clifford started and played two series, Pratt played two series, Clifford played two series and so on. That could get him ready for a role vs. the Colts.

“It was nice to be able to play throughout the whole game,” Clifford said after that game. “Even going in and out, it was nice to be able to kind of practice your role. You just never know. You’re going to sit for a quarter, maybe it’s a half a quarter and then, boom, you’re back in. It was good to get in the ebbs and flow there.”

Practice-squad players are not available to talk to reporters, so he was not available for comment this week.

More Green Bay Packers News

Nothing ‘questionable’ about strategy with Love |  NFC North power rankings and previews | Packers-Colts final injury report | Jordan Love’s timeline | Anthony Richardson and Aaron Rodgers’ Hail Mary | Honeymoon’s over for Hafley | More Edgerrin Cooper | Kraft blows past Musgrave on depth chart | Packers are tall, heavy and young (again) | LaFleur’s backup QB history | Odds will be stacked against Jacobs | What channel for Packers-Colts?

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Bill Huber

BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packer Central, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.