Buckle in for a crazy “what if” edition of “What Will The Packers Do With Pick No. 15?”
Most of the ideal scenarios for Green Bay involve building the offense around Jordan Love or adding some pass-rush juice the team desperately needs. But what if Brian Gutekunst gets up to some tomfoolery instead?
There’s always a variance in what we expect teams to do and what they actually do. Projected top-tier players slip and mid-round-graded players get selected early in real head-scratching moves. What if the board falls in a weird way and one of the top quarterbacks fall to Green Bay at 15? Wouldn’t it be like so silly if they took a first-round QB?
That’s what could happen if Florida Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson falls. If the athletic-marvel quarterback drops to Green Bay’s draft range, would Brian Gutekunst take the risk?
The Packers are confident enough in Jordan Love to end things with Aaron Rodgers and move forward with the young quarterback. Even though Rodgers had a down year in 2022, it’s still a big vote of confidence in Love to move on from a future Hall of Famer.
But for all of Love’s potential, he’s still unproven. All of the data we have on him comes from preseason games, one NFL start, and two games in relief. Love’s appearance against Philadelphia late last season was exciting and showed what he could be. But we need to see some weekly success to know if Love is The Guy.
And Love is on the back end of his rookie contract. The Packers will need to decide whether to exercise Love’s fifth-year option early next month, which will cost just over $20 million. Taking the option, which seems likely, guarantees Love stays with the team through the 2024 season. So they could have two years to evaluate Love, but things start getting expensive after this season.
If Love isn’t the guy, the Packers need another option, and a bad time to look is when you’re desperate for one. Look at our friends in Chicago.
Green Bay will almost certainly draft a quarterback to develop behind Love as a backup. But if they can somehow get a shot at Richardson, they should absolutely take it.
Richardson’s traits should make him a top-five pick, but he’s the most likely of the top quarterbacks to slip thanks to needing some more polish to reach his ceiling.
Richardson broke multiple records at the combine and had the best athletic performance of any quarterback at the event. His RAS is a perfect 10. He accomplished things that a 6’4”, 244 lb. human being should not be able to do. He could probably have outdueled Spartan warriors.
The former Gator has a cannon for an arm and is a dynamic running threat, but Richardson isn’t a finished product as a passer. His short and intermediate accuracy need work, and he has a history of missing easy throws. His 54% completion rate isn’t ideal. Richardson needs to work on some mechanics. He also doesn’t have a deep starting history; he’s only started in 13 games after being unable to beat the completion last season.
But his athletic traits are legendary, and a skilled quarterback coach like, say, Tom Clements, could fix the mechanical issues. Richardson needs a year or two of learning to adjust to NFL competition, but he’s a gamble that could pay massive dividends.
Richardson would allow Matt LaFleur to throw some new concepts into the offense that didn’t mesh well in the Aaron Rodgers era. Per Rob Reger’s analyses in the CheeseheadTV Draft Guide, “If the Packers were to end up with Richardson, they likely would need to change several elements of their offense simply because his skills are so different from Aaron Rodgers’. Adding designed runs and quarterback sneaks to the repertoire would be a necessity with a talent like Richardson.”
Of course, Packers fans may scoff at another first-round developmental quarterback in such a short time span. Richardson won’t help the Packers win now, and the draft spot means one fewer player to help the active roster win on Sundays.
And it wouldn’t be fun for Jordan Love, who endured a lot of vitriol simply for being a first-round backup quarterback. Love has been a professional in every sense of the word through the Aaron Rodgers drama. He’s more than earned the right to show his skills as an NFL starter after developing for three years. Having a potential replacement for him drafted rather than a player that can help him succeed may be hard to swallow.
But, unfortunately, that’s the business of the NFL. The quarterback is the most important position on the team, and front offices need to explore every avenue to find their guy. We don’t have enough information to know if Love is the right quarterback. If he isn’t, having another option already on the roster will make the transition easier.
In all likelihood, this discourse doesn’t even matter. Richardson could easily end up going in the top five, especially with multiple teams inquiring about trading with the Arizona Cardinals for pick No. 3. Richardson may not be as polished as this year’s other top passers, but some team will bank on his otherworldly athletic abilities and potential ceiling. If he somehow falls, though, Green Bay should pounce.
