Green Bay Packers

StaTuesday: Recent Packers QBs not named Favre or Rodgers

Published Oct. 17, 2017 5:12 p.m. ET

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Ryan Lund

What will the Green Bay Packers look like without Aaron Rodgers?

We're not really sure, and neither -- if we're all being honest -- is anyone else.

Whether through impeccable scouting or dumb luck, the Green Bay Packers have enjoyed an unprecedented run of top-end quarterback play over the last 25 years.



Just 16 quarterbacks have attempted a pass for the Packers since then-GM Ron Wolf stole Brett Favre away from the Atlanta Falcons following his rookie season.

For context, the Chicago Bears -- who recently trotted out No. 2 overall pick Mitchell Trubisky after four painfully bland weeks of Mike Glennon -- have used 35 over that span.

The Minnesota Vikings are on their 37th.

Beginning with Week 3 of the 1992 season, Favre started a mindboggling 297 consecutive games -- the longest such streak in NFL history -- before finally handing the reins to Rodgers in 2008.

Since the Rodgers era began with Favre's first retirement in 2008, only Matt Flynn has spelled him for significant stretches.

No other quarterback has appeared in more than six games for the Packers since Rodgers took over, while just five quarterbacks -- Flynn, Brett Hundley, Scott Tolzien, Seneca Wallace and Graham Harrell -- have attempted a pass since the beginning of the Rodgers era.

They've drafted quite a few quarterbacks since picking Rodgers in 2005 -- Ingle Martin the following year, Brian Brohm in 2008 and B.J. Coleman in 2012 -- but the only one to actually appear in a game is Hundley, a fifth-round pick in 2015.

Hundley is expected to take over with Rodgers due to miss most of, if not all, of the remainder of the season, and if he can throw for even a serviceable number of yards, he'll already be in the most successful non-Rodgers or Favre Packers quarterback of the last 20 years.

In the 25 seasons since Favre was named the starter, only one quarterback not named Aaron or Brett has thrown for more than 2,000 yards combined.

Flynn was effective as a spot starter, garbage time fill-in and Week 17 hero in two stints with the Packers, throwing for 2,227 yards and 16 touchdowns in 40 appearances and six starts between 2008-14.

He parlayed one of those starts into a three-year, $20.5 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks in 2012, after throwing for a Packers record 480 yards and six touchdowns in a win over the Detroit Lions.

After that, the list gets pretty dismal.

There's Wallace, who replaced an injured Rodgers for two games in 2013, only to suffer a groin injury.

Wallace's replacement, Tolzien, made three appearances that year, throwing for 717 yards and a single touchdown against five interceptions.

Flynn returned to his spot behind Rodgers in 2014 -- he was unseated by Wisconsin Badgers alum Russell Wilson not long after signing in Seattle -- and attempted 16 passes in seven appearances.

It wasn't enough to earn him another deal.

Finally, Hundley arrived in 2015.

The first quarterback selected by the Packers since 2012, Hundley rode the bench behind Tolzien (and Rodgers) as a rookie, before attempting 10 passes in four games during his sophomore season.

And then there's Joe Callahan, a third-stringer whose absurd stats at Wesley College -- he was the first quarterback in Division III history to throw for 5,000 yards in a single season -- earned him a spot on the Packers' practice squad.

Oh, right.

Harrell.

He made his NFL debut in 2012, taking over in the red zone after Rodgers was poked in the eye during the third quarter of a win over the New Orleans Saints.

He attempted to hand the ball off to Cedric Benson.

Instead, he tripped over his own center and fumbled.

Maybe it's time to call Colin Kaepernick.

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