The Green Bay Packers have had an interesting journey on their way to finding their backup quarterback for the 2024 NFL season. After trading Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets last year, Jordan Love took over as the starter, but his promotion meant that the team needed to find a different second-string quarterback.
They did this by signing Alex McGough, formerly of the USFL, and drafting Sean Clifford in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. They had the two compete in training camp last year, with Clifford winning the job while McGough was signed to the practice squad.
The Green Bay Packers Held Another Backup Quarterback Competition in 2024
With McGough switching positions to wide receiver, Green Bay decided to use one of their four seventh round picks in the 2024 NFL Draft on another quarterback to compete with Clifford again. They selected Michael Pratt out of Tulane to compete with Clifford during OTA’s and training camp.
What was supposed to be an intriguing competition for the backup job behind Love turned into one of the hardest position battles to watch. Neither Clifford nor Pratt played particularly well during training camp practices, and both left a great deal to be desired in the Green Bay’s preseason games.
In the Packers’ second preseason game, a 27-2 loss to the Denver Broncos, Clifford was just 6/10 for 43 yards and an interception. Pratt was not much better, going 10/16 for 52 yards. Jordan Love did not play; those two performances were the totality of Green Bay’s passing offense in that game.
Similarly, both quarterbacks performed poorly again in Green Bay’s postseason finale against the Baltimore Ravens. Clifford was 6/14 for 53 yards and a touchdown while Pratt was 8/12 for 80 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.
The Green Bay Packers Decided to Trade for Malik Willis from the Tennessee Titans
With no clear winner of the backup quarterback competition, the Packers decided to send a 2025 seventh-round pick to the Tennessee Titans for Malik Willis. After the trade, Green Bay cut both Clifford and Pratt when they trimmed their roster to 53 players.
Clifford was re-signed onto the Packers practice squad while Pratt was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Willis brings some NFL experience having started three games for the Titans in 2022. However, he completed just 50.8% of his passes and threw three interceptions while not throwing any touchdowns.
NFL Analyst Blasts the Green Bay Packers for the Malik Willis Trade
One NFL analyst, however, does not think the Packers made the right decision with their backup quarterback situation. Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report believes that the team should have signed free agent Ryan Tannehill instead.
“I voiced my concerns last week about Green Bay’s chances if anything happens to Jordan Love, and that really doesn’t change much with Malik Willis on board. It’s hard to buy into Willis right now,” Gagnon wrote. “Again, why no Ryan Tannehill?”
The answer to Gagnon’s question is quite simple: if Tannehill is really good enough to be a backup quarterback, why hasn’t a quarterback needy team like the Minnesota Vikings or Las Vegas Raiders reached out to him?
Tannehill was a good NFL quarterback for a few years, but there is no team in the NFL that has signed him even though they have worse quarterback rooms than the Packers.
Green Bay has a young quarterback they like and can develop. If they really feel the need to add a veteran later, Tannehill will likely still be sitting on his couch waiting for a call.
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