Green Bay is a quarterback factory. The backups in this city would be franchise players in most cities. It is a true embarrassment of riches.There has been so much talent stuck behind Favre and Rodgers that it really isn’t fair. Let me break down the ten best backup quarterbacks during this stretch. And no, T.J. fucking Rubley is not on the list.
10. DeShone Kizer
DeShone came into the league as a relatively high draft pick by the Cleveland Browns but was traded to Green Bay. He came to Green Bay a shallow thinker but thanks to Aaron Rodgers, he now can see the bigger picture about how things like 9/11, Pearl Harbor, and the Civil War were all fake and unlike when Lex Luger body slammed Yokozuna on the USS Intrepid – which of course was legit.
While some may say that he wasn’t a very good quarterback, there is not a doubt in my mind that he is the reason that the Packers made their heroic second half comeback against the Bears in the first week of 2018. He played so poorly in the first half that the Bears defense was licking their chops and when Rodgers came back into play, they were on their heels and couldn’t recover.
9. Graham Harrell
It’s never a good sign when you choose the number made famous by Bubby Brister but Graham defied expectation and ended up playing in four games in his career and had a 50% completion rate.
8. Brett Hundley
Brett Hundley was thrown into a tough position when Aaron got hurt in 2017 but he responded well by almost throwing more touchdowns than interceptions.
He will always be remembered for his late game heroics against the likes of the Buccaneers and the Browns with the latter preventing a loss to a team that went winless that year.
7. Scott Tolzien
Honestly, I just put him on this list because he went to Wisconsin and Packers fans hate it when you don’t say how great Badgers’ players are, even when they’re terrible.
6. Doug Pederson
Doug Pederson is a Super Bowl winning coach and did so with Nick Foles as his quarterback yet some people say he was a better player than he is a coach. These people are fucking idiots. But he was a good backup and he also won a Super Bowl as a player of the Packers. He can be seen in the background of the video of Brett Favre running around with his helmet in the air after his first touchdown pass in Super Bowl XXXI. He is holding a clipboard in the shot.
5. Ty Detmer
The only Heisman Trophy winner on this list (only because Danny Wuerffel just missed the top 10). Standing only 6 feet tall, he was a 9th round pick… they don’t even have 9 rounds anymore. He threw one touchdown pass, an absolute dart to Mark Chmura against the Vikings in 1995.
4. Matt Flynn
This should have been Brian Brohm’s spot. Matt had many gutsy performances. Aside from shattering Packers’ record books on New Year’s Day, 2012, he also nearly beat Tom Brady and the Patriots the year prior.
He filled in after Rodgers broke his collarbone in 2013 and held things together and squeaked out one point wins against the Falcons, and a come from behind spectacular against the Cowboys.
3. Matt Hasselbeck
The baldest quarterback on this list. He didn’t get that many opportunities in Green Bay. In 1999, he threw the ball 10 times and had 3 completions and this 30% completion rate made the Seahawks say ‘Oh fuck, we need that guy. Here, take our picks’.
2. Jordan Love
Probably shouldn’t be on this list because he will be the next great Packers quarterback but I have a feeling the Packers will also be retiring his number. We’re going to be running out of numbers soon.
1. Mark Brunell
This may be biased because of my love of left-handed quarterbacks but when Mark went to the Jaguars, I almost switched allegiances. No one else will say this but I think there was a quarterback controversy brewing between him and Favrey which is why they shipped Mark to Jacksonville for two picks. Those picks? William Henderson and Travis Jervey. What a guy. What a haul.