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It’s pretty clear what Mike McCarthy is trying to accomplish during the preseason this year, at least on offense and in particular with his quarterbacks. With the departure of Favre, and the complete lack of any quarterback with legitimate NFL experience, McCarthy must accomplish two things: prepare Aaron Rodgers to start and prepare either Brohm or Flynn to be a backup. If McCarthy only had one rookie, or only had one position (starter or backup) to prepare, this would be trivial, in terms of logistics, but since he has two positions to fill, and a pool of three players with no experience, there just aren’t enough snaps to accomplish his goal. Making matters worse is the fact that his seventh round pick is progressing faster than his second round pick, meaning that McCarthy has to continue to give both guys as many reps as possible to either bring Brohm up to speed and/or see whether Flynn will really be his guy as backup. Can McCarthy really be happy with a seventh round pick rookie backup QB starting the season? If his second round pick is worse, what choice does he have? Either way, it looks like both will have to be maintained on the 53 man roster, forcing a cut elsewhere.
And what of his starter, Aaron Rodgers? Sure, Rodgers has more experience in the system, but he’s a neophyte with real bullets flying. Even assuming a troubled offensive line comes around and provides decent pass protection and a good running game, Rodgers still has to acquire the knack of reading the defense pre-snap, making quick adjustments, and going through his progression. On the occasions when Rodgers gets decent blocking, he’s still holding the ball too long and showing tunnel vision for his primary receiver – most often Donald Driver. The optimist would argue that once the regular season arrives, Jennings, Clifton, Tauscher, Grant and a set O-line will give Rodgers every opportunity to excel, but the realist will see that Rodgers requires a lot of seasoning, and his backups need tons of reps to just get one guy ready to come in the game should, or more likely, when Rodgers get clobbered. Ted Thompson has shown a tendency to use multiple draft picks on a single position in the hopes that a reliable starter will emerge from the competition. But with the quarterbacks, there wasn’t enough offseason and there’s not enough preseason to get that accomplished, and certainly not enough time to prepare a starter and a backup. The fate of the Packer’s season will hinge on Thompson’s quarterback calculation.
And what of his starter, Aaron Rodgers? Sure, Rodgers has more experience in the system, but he’s a neophyte with real bullets flying. Even assuming a troubled offensive line comes around and provides decent pass protection and a good running game, Rodgers still has to acquire the knack of reading the defense pre-snap, making quick adjustments, and going through his progression. On the occasions when Rodgers gets decent blocking, he’s still holding the ball too long and showing tunnel vision for his primary receiver – most often Donald Driver. The optimist would argue that once the regular season arrives, Jennings, Clifton, Tauscher, Grant and a set O-line will give Rodgers every opportunity to excel, but the realist will see that Rodgers requires a lot of seasoning, and his backups need tons of reps to just get one guy ready to come in the game should, or more likely, when Rodgers get clobbered. Ted Thompson has shown a tendency to use multiple draft picks on a single position in the hopes that a reliable starter will emerge from the competition. But with the quarterbacks, there wasn’t enough offseason and there’s not enough preseason to get that accomplished, and certainly not enough time to prepare a starter and a backup. The fate of the Packer’s season will hinge on Thompson’s quarterback calculation.
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