Will the Green Bay Packers look to draft a quarterback early in the 2024 NFL Draft? That is the question on everyone’s mind after the Packers fell to 2-4, losing to a historically bad Denver Broncos defense. For his part, Jordan Love completed 21/31 passes for 180 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. That interception, though, cost Green Bay the game for the second consecutive week in which they played.
Now, to be clear: Love has started just seven games in his NFL career. It is far too early to give up on him. That being said, he came into the Broncos game with the lowest completion percentage in the NFL and has been very inconsistent with his decision making.
The fact of the matter is that Green Bay took too much of a risk in drafting Love for him to be a “one-and-done” starter. He is under contract for 2024, but beyond that his future with the team is far from certain.
Should the Green Bay Packers Draft a Potential Jordan Love Replacement in the 2024 NFL Draft?
There is so much unknown about how good Love can and will be in the NFL. And that’s the problem. As much as some fans may be ready to move on from him, the organization is not. Simply put, seven games is not enough time to adequately evaluate a quarterback and his future.
But there is a possibility that Love never reaches the potential that Green Bay sees in him. And if 2024 is a repeat of 2023 (thus far, with no improvements), the Packers could be in serious trouble.
The old adage is that “the best time to draft a quarterback is when you don’t need one.” Even in Aaron Rodgers’ first year as a starter, the Packers selected quarterback Brian Brohm in the second round of the NFL Draft. Now, Brohm ended up out of the league before too long, but the Packers’ strategy was evident: they wanted a fallback plan in place.
Now, the Packers did draft Sean Clifford in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. However, Green Bay is also looking at a real possibility of having a top-ten pick in 2024. Clifford is not as good as any of the quarterbacks that will be taken in the first round next year (or the first few rounds at that).
Which begs the question: if Love does not improve much (or at all) for the rest of the season, should the Packers use their first round pick on a quarterback?
It’s a real possibility. If they do, and Love lights the league on fire in 2024, they can extend Love and trade their young QB for massive draft capital in 2025. If Love doesn’t improve and/or is awful in 2024, they can allow him to depart as a free agent and have a young exciting quarterback who has sat for a year ready to go.
And if that is the course, the Packers choose to take, these three quarterbacks may be the best ones available when they pick.
1. Drake Maye: North Carolina
The current assumption is that USC quarterback Caleb Williams will be the number one pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. However, if Drake Maye keeps up his level of play, he could be some team’s most-desired pick.
In any case, Maye has all the makings of a top-five pick and, if the Packers continue to lose, they will have a top-five pick.
Ian Cummings of Pro Football Network actually lists Maye as the best quarterback in the upcoming draft, writing:
“Maye, for his size, still has exceptional off-platform ability and athleticism, and there’s a strong argument to make that Maye is more disciplined, more decisive, and more accurate than Williams in structure.
“As C.J. Stroud has shown early on in his NFL career, it’s the passers with the best balance of physical talent and operational utility that find success. Both Maye and Williams have bright futures, but Maye might best fulfill that definition in the 2024 NFL Draft.”
Maye is listed as six-foot-five and 220 pounds. He certainly has the physique of a NFL quarterback. So far this season, the 2022 ACC Player of the Year ACC Offensive Player of the Year has a 65.4% completion percentage, 2,249 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and five interceptions.
2. J.J. McCarthy: Michigan
Ncaa Fiesta Bowl Game
One of the biggest criticisms of Love is his league-worst completion percentage. Well, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy currently has a completion percentage of 78.1% to go with 1,799 passing yards, 18 touchdowns, and three interceptions.
Cummings ranked McCarthy has the fourth-best quarterback in the upcoming draft, writing:
“McCarthy was volatile earlier in his career, but he’s starting to become more steady and controlled in structure, and his tools are easy to like. He has a loose arm capable of hitting tight windows, and his elite creation ability and rushing value give him an edge over other young QBs.
“McCarthy has everything he needs physically to be a plus NFL starter. If he can keep developing through Big Ten play, he’ll be the favorite behind Drake Maye and Caleb Williams in this crowded QB3-QB8 group.”
From Cummings’ description, it sounds like McCarthy would benefit from a year sitting, learning, and observing rather than being thrust into a starting role in his rookie year.
At six-foot-three and 197 pounds, he is a bit lighter than Maye.
But here is what Packers fans may find exciting about McCarthy: as mentioned, he has a 78.1% completion percentage. That is not only the best mark in the Big Ten, but also the second-best mark in the entire country. Now, that is impressive in and of itself, but when one takes into consideration that McCarthy also leads the Big Ten (and is second in the country) in passing yards per attempt (10.6), it becomes even more so.
Going into the loss to Denver, Love had the lowest completion percentage in the NFL while also leading the league in yards per attempt.
If the Packers really want a quarterback who is accurate and can throw downfield, McCarthy is one of the best quarterbacks in the upcoming draft who can do both.
3. Bo Nix: Oregon
Now if the Packers really want to focus on accuracy, should they decide to move on from Love, Oregon quarterback Bo Nix will be on their radar.
Nix currently leads the country with a 78.4% completion percentage while throwing for 2,089 yards, 19 touchdowns, and just one interception.
Cummings has Nix ranked as the fifth-best quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft, writing:
“At 6’2″ and 213 pounds, Nix is one of the most dynamic running and off-script QB threats in college. He’s a quick, flexible, short-area athlete with excellent creation ability and the arm strength and flexibility to generate velocity off-platform.
“Nix’s development on the operational side suggests he can be a quality NFL starter.”
The development Cummings refers to is how much better Nix has played with Oregon than he did in three years starting for Auburn. There is something to be said about the lower-quality teams he is playing in the Pac-12 compared to the SEC, but he has shown up big for Oregon when they have needed him to.
And a 78.4% completion percentage is hard to accomplish, no matter what conference one plays in.
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