It’s April 23, 2020 – the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, a first of its kind in this new COVID era. Commissioner Roger Goodell and the front offices of each NFL team are conducting the draft remotely. It’s the escape sports fans around the world have been clamoring for after COVID-19 shut down live sports for a month.
The draft probably hasn’t unfolded the way the Green Bay Packers expected, with targets such as Justin Jefferson and Brandon Aiyuk recently coming off the board. Another wide receiver, Tee Higgins, is still available. Many Packers fans hope the front office will finally pull the trigger on a first-round receiver.
Green Bay is fresh off the San Francisco 49ers beating them 37-20 in the NFC Championship game. Aaron Rodgers is coming off a resurgent 2019 season, and Packers Nation is hoping the team gives him another weapon opposite Davante Adams to help get them over the hump as the aging superstar enters the final stage of his career.
At around 10:45 pm EST, the screen flashes “TRADE,” and Roger Goodell makes his way to the podium. “The Miami Dolphins have traded the 26th-overall pick to the Green Bay Packers,” he announces. “With the 26th-overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Green Bay Packers select… Jordan Love, quarterback, Utah State.”
Like many Packers fans, I muttered the same words Aaron Rodgers later admitted to saying when he saw the pick: “No f—king way.”
It was not a popular choice among the fanbase. But as Packers fans, we should have been used to this by now. The front office delivered the same shock 15 years earlier when they drafted a young, brash quarterback out of California 24th overall while still having a Hall of Fame quarterback under center and Super Bowl aspirations. Like his future successor, Jordan Love, Rodgers had three years to sit and learn before enduring the stress of being a franchise quarterback. No expectations, no coaches or general managers’ jobs to save. Just sit, watch, and learn.
At the time, many fans viewed taking Rodgers or Love as the Packers prioritizing their draft-and-develop philosophy over bolstering their chances to contend. But with the gift of hindsight, they should be seen as the organization ensuring the long-term health of the game’s most important position.
Green Bay’s approach prevents the team from being at the mercy of a particular quarterback draft class’ strength. Compare that to teams like the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, and New York Giants, who desperately need a quarterback in this draft.
By selecting Rodgers and Love 15 years apart, the Packers sent a clear message to the league: Nothing is more important than securing a franchise quarterback. Regardless of other roster needs or whether a linebacker or defensive end could provide immediate impact snaps, if a quarterback with long-term potential is available, you take him. Few teams have executed this philosophy as successfully as Green Bay.
Look at the teams at the top of this year’s draft.
The New York Giants reached for Daniel Jones at No. 6 overall in 2019. While experts considered Jones a first-round prospect, they didn’t expect him to go that high. Desperate to find their next franchise quarterback after Eli Manning, they over-drafted Jones and immediately threw him onto the field with little time to develop.
Coming from a basketball school like Duke, he would have benefited from sitting a year or two to learn. Six years later, the Giants are picking third overall, again searching for their next franchise quarterback in a weak QB draft.
Or take the Cleveland Browns, sitting at second-overall this year. Since re-entering the NFL in 1999, quarterback talent has seemingly gone to die in Cleveland. They have started an astonishing 40 different QBs over that span. The same quarterback has started every game in only three seasons.
A lack of effort hasn’t caused Cleveland’s quarterback issue. They’ve drafted multiple quarterbacks, including first-overall picks. Their problem has stemmed from front-office ineptitude and a revolving door of head coaches and offensive coordinators — conditions that are far from ideal for a young signal-caller’s development.
Look at Baker Mayfield, who they took first-overall in 2018. He showed flashes in Cleveland but ultimately realized his full potential with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They weren’t committed to developing him and instead threw him out on the field Day 1.
Since then, they haven’t returned to the draft for a long-term solution. Instead, they traded three first-round picks as part of a package for Deshaun Watson and backfilling with Joe Flacco and Jameis Winston. The Browns have never been serious about developing quarterback talent, leaving them praying for a prospect like Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward to save them.
What about the team holding the first-overall pick in 2025, the Tennessee Titans?
Over the last couple of seasons, they have invested two top-100 picks in quarterbacks. Still, they are staring down the possibility of drafting another one at No. 1 overall. Ironically, one of those previous quarterbacks led the Packers to three wins last year after Tennessee traded Malik Willis to Green Bay at the end of the summer.
Even with reports suggesting the Titans won’t pass on a “generational talent” at No. 1 just to take a quarterback, the odds are they’ll feel the pressure and pull the trigger on Ward or Sanders. They will likely force that quarterback to play immediately behind a subpar roster with a coach desperate to save his job. After years of quarterback failures, they now must get it right.
Green Bay’s philosophy of drafting quarterbacks when they are the best player on the board, rather than when forced by need, has ensured they are always ready when the time comes. It’s not always the most exciting for fans hoping for a dynamic wide receiver, but it’s a time-tested approach that works.
Letting a first-round quarterback sit and learn only increases the odds of them becoming a long-term success. The Packers have struck gold with this approach more than once. Surprisingly, more teams don’t follow suit and wait until the pressure is on – often with disastrous results.
