The Green Bay Packers spent a great deal of time this offseason evaluating their options at backup quarterback behind starter Jordan Love. While they had 2023 fifth-round pick Sean Clifford as the second-string quarterback last season, they wanted to ensure that they had the best quality of player at the position. For this reason, they drafted Michael Pratt in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Unfortunately, both Clifford and Pratt failed to impress during the preseason. So poor were both of their performances that Green Bay decided to send a 2025 seventh-round pick to the Tennessee Titans for Malik Willis to serve as Love’s backup.
Green Bay Packers Fans Wanted Ryan Tannehill After Jordan Love Went Down with a Knee Injury
As fans are well-aware by this point, Love suffered a sprained MCL in Green Bay’s Week One loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Sao Paolo, Brazil on Friday night. While it is fortunate that he avoided a season-ending injury, the Packers do face the prospect of having to play at least three games without him.
In the hours following Love’s injury, both Packers fans and football analysts were calling on the team to sign free agent veteran quarterback Ryan Tannehill. The 36-year-old quarterback played for the Titans last year, completing 64.8 percent of his passes for 1,616 yards, just four touchdowns, and seven interceptions in 10 games (eight starts).
Earlier today, too, there were reports that the Packers had reached out to Tannehill regarding becoming their starting quarterback while Love is out. However, NFL insiders have revealed that those reports are false.
The Green Bay Packers Will Not Sign Free Agent Quarterback Ryan Tannehill
According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the Packers have not, and will not, reach out to Tannehill or any other veteran free agent quarterback while Love is out.
One of the main reasons why fans (and some analysts) thought Tannehill would be a good fit for Green Bay is because, according to them, he played for Matt LaFleur when he was the Titans’ offensive coordinator.
Those people, however, have their dates mixed up. LaFleur was the Tennessee offensive coordinator in 2018, but Tannehill did not join the Titans until 2019. LaFleur became the Packers head coach that year.
The reason any team has a backup quarterback is so that they can rely on that player if their starter goes down. Green Bay got the guy they wanted in Willis. If they had wanted Tannehill, they would have signed him months ago.
