Why the Packers should draft a quarterback in 2024

The Green Bay Packers are always thinking ahead at the quarterback position. It's a time-honored tradition in Wisconsin.

That's what made the transition from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers so magical, and so far so good for the passing of the torch from Rodgers to his heir apparent, Jordan Love.

This is not to say that Green Bay needs to be looking for Love's replacement, because he seems to be just at the beginning of what could be a great career at just 25 years old.

But Green Bay should still look to draft and develop a quarterback from the 2024 NFL Draft.

No, this isn't calling for a trade up for a quarterback like J.J. McCarthy or even a second-round flier on Bo Nix or Michael Penix Dr. What this is calling for, though, is for general manager Brian Gutekunst to use one of his 11 selections (preferably a late one) on a rookie quarterback.

There are multiple behind that thought process.

1. You can never have enough talent at the NFL's most important position. The more competition in the quarterback room, the better for everyone.

2. Health is not a guarantee, so having a more than suitable backup is important for a team like Green Bay, which wants to be a Super Bowl contender.

3. Worst-case scenario, you draft, stash and develop a young quarterback who can maybe one day be traded for positive assets.

This is a tried and true methodology in Green Bay which has resulted in productive backups like Matt Hasselbeck (who the Packers took in the sixth round of the 1998 NFL Draft and then traded two years later for draft picks) and Mark Brunell (who the Packers took in the fifth round of the 1993 NFL Draft before trading him to the Jacksonville Jaguars for picks just a few seasons later).

Matt Flynn is another good example. The Packers ended up losing him to free agency, but he won Green Bay several games as Rodgers' backup between 2008-11. Flynn was a seventh-round pick of the Packers in the 2008 NFL Draft.

The precedent is there, and it's one Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst has followed. He drafted Love, after all, but he also drafted Sean Clifford out of Penn State last year in the fifth round.

Interesting options for Gutekunst in this draft would be Sam Hartman from Notre Dame (a potential sixth or seventh-rounder), or how about taking a flyer on Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis, who was a Heisman Trophy candidate before he was injured?

Either way, yes, the Packers do need to draft a quarterback.