One game into the season, the Green Bay Packers are already paying for the gamble they made with what is supposedly a Super Bowl-caliber roster—not adding a seasoned backup quarterback to play behind Jordan Love.
In the last seconds of the Philadelphia Eagles’ season opener in São Paulo, Brazil, Love seemed to have suffered a catastrophic ankle injury. Following the game, when reporters questioned Packers head coach Matt LaFleur about the extent of his starting quarterback’s injury, he responded with three ambiguous words.
LaFleur said, “I don’t know,” according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
With the Packers losing by five points, backup quarterback Malik Willis, whom Green Bay acquired via trade on August 26, played two plays to end the game: one was an incomplete pass and the other was a sack on an attempted Hail Mary. Sean Clifford is the only other quarterback in the Packers system, and he’s currently with the practice squad.
Despite Clifford’s familiarity with the offense, the team started the season with Willis as their No. 2 option. That demonstrates a readiness to give the keys to a QB who is just somewhat familiar with the plan.
Ryan Tannehill, a former Pro Bowl player, is a wonderful fit for the situation in Green Bay. Before losing his starting position to Will Levis in the last year of his $118 million deal in 2023, he played with Willis in Tennessee.
Preseason analysts floated Ryan Tannehill to the Packers.
After witnessing Clifford struggle throughout practice sessions, a number of reporters and commentators for the Packers suggested Tannehill as a possible replacement during the preseason.
In an X post on July 24, Andy Herman of Packer Report mentioned Tannehill’s addition to Green Bay.
Herman wrote, “We might need to have a Ryan Tannehill conversation.” “I completely comprehend and acknowledge the [Indianapolis] Colts/Peyton Manning catchphrase, ‘we don’t practice [crap,’ but without Love, the offense is currently a nightmare. To be fair, they are young quarterbacks, and it’s still absurdly early.
If Jordan Love is down for an extended period of time, Ryan Tannehill can help the Packers maintain their postseason goals.
Though the Packers might not be able to take the opportunity given Love’s prognosis, Willis hasn’t yet received the fair treatment he most likely deserves.
If Love’s injury was a severe ankle sprain, it usually takes four to six weeks for them to heal completely. The games that Green Bay has scheduled for the upcoming month aren’t too tough; in Weeks 2 and 4, they play at home against the Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings, and in Weeks 3 and 5, they travel to play the Titans and Los Angeles Rams.
The final two weeks of the six-week schedule are home games against the Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans in back-to-back weeks.
But without Love for any sizable chunk of it, that stretch of the schedule is significantly more vulnerable, which may ruin Green Bay’s prospects of making the playoffs. Tannehill has three years of postseason experience, having led the Titans to the AFC Championship Game in 2019 and three other times between 2019 and 21.
According to Pro Football Reference, Tannehill has completed 155 games and 151 starts with about 35,000 passing yards, 216 touchdowns, and 115 interceptions during his career.
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