-
Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer
Sean Clifford has completed exactly one regular-season pass during his Green Bay Packers career, which is one more than Malik Willis has for the team he joined only last week.
Those are the Packers’ two in-house options if the apparent left leg injury quarterback Jordan Love sustained in the final seconds of Friday’s 34-29 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles keeps him out of the Week 2 game against the Indianapolis Colts and beyond.
Clifford, who backed up Love last season and hit Bo Melton for a 37-yard completion in Week 17 against the Minnesota Vikings on the only pass attempt of his rookie season, would have to be elevated or signed from the practice squad if the Packers wanted to go that route. But the Packers did not think enough of Clifford to give him a second year as QB2, and after a training camp battle between him and rookie Michael Pratt, they traded a seventh-round pick to the Titans for Willis on Aug. 26.
The Packers felt Willis learned enough of the offense in less than two weeks in Green Bay to serve as Love’s backup for the opener. He took the final two snaps against the Eagles after Love’s injury. The 2022 third-round pick by the Tennessee Titans threw an incomplete pass and was sacked on the game’s final play. Clifford reportedly made the trip to São Paulo with the team but was not elevated to the roster for the game.
Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst chose not to sign a veteran backup during the offseason because he liked how Clifford played last summer in his rookie preseason and thought the strong-armed Pratt, a seventh-round pick from Tulane, could provide good competition.
But Clifford struggled early in camp while Love was sitting out practice waiting for his contract extension to be finalized, and Pratt didn’t play well enough for the Packers to keep him.
“I think certainly there were some underwhelming performances at times,” Gutekunst said after final cuts when asked about the Clifford-Pratt competition.
Both quarterbacks went unclaimed on waivers after those cuts were made. While Clifford returned to the Packers’ practice squad, Pratt joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ practice squad.
Willis started three games as a Titans rookie in 2022 and Tennessee went 1-2. Willis then appeared in only three games in a backup role for them last season.
“I think that was one thing this preseason — as we track guys through the early stages of their career — the one thing we saw, particularly with this new coaching staff in Tennessee, is how much he progressed within the offense playing from the pocket and making plays that way,” Gutekunst said upon acquiring Willis.
“Again, this will be new for him, and obviously the quarterback position, it’ll take a little bit of time. But at the same time, just really excited about where his progression has taken him thus far and where he’ll go, particularly under our group.”
Surely, Gutekunst never thought they would need to accelerate his progression to potentially start in Week 2.
The last time the Packers had a veteran former starting quarterback on the roster as a backup was in 2021 with Blake Bortles. He spent time with the Packers (when Aaron Rodgers skipped the offseason program that year) and came back to the practice squad that November to back up Love, who started against the Chiefs because Rodgers was out because of COVID-19.
The out-of-work veteran NFL quarterback list now includes Ryan Tannehill, Trevor Siemian, Kellen Mond, Nate Sudfeld, C.J. Beathard and PJ Walker.
An injury to Love in his first game since signing his four-year, $220 million contract, which tied him for the highest-paid player in the league, is the worst-case scenario. Love appeared to experience lower-leg cramps during Friday’s game, and several players, including Love, had trouble with their footing and slipped. There was no reason to think either factored in his injury.
“Yeah, that was tough to see,” Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark told reporters in Brazil. “That’s the franchise right there. Hopefully, he can be back next week and he can be all right.”