For most of the last three decades, the Green Bay Packers have been lucky enough to have steady production at the quarterback position. From 1992-2007 the team had Hall of Famer Brett Farve leading the offense. When he was traded to the New York Jets, it was 2005 first-round pick Aaron Rodgers tasked with replacing him.
Rodgers couldn’t have done much better as the Packers didn’t really miss a beat. He turned in a Hall of Fame-worthy career of his own as the team’s starter from 2008-2022. His time with the franchise came to an end this offseason when he, too, was traded to the Jets.
Now, it is 2020 first-round pick Jordan Love’s turn to take over as the starting quarterback. He has some huge shoes to fill as there isn’t a franchise in the NFL that has been as fortunate as the Packers with quarterbacks over that period of time.
Some teams have been left scrambling year in and year out seeking out an answer at the position, which led to an interesting exercise done by Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report. He put a piece together seeing how well each franchise would fare with Patrick Mahomes as their starting quarterback.
Mahomes is considered the cream of the crop currently in a golden age of young quarterbacks. He has won the regular season MVP award twice and led the Kansas City Chiefs to two Super Bowl victories, winning the MVP both times.
He is a superstar and if he stays on his current pace, will shatter numerous NFL records along the way. But, would he be able to turn the Packers into a contender? Gagnon believes he would turn Green Bay from non-contenders into fringe contenders.
“Nobody knows what Jordan Love has in store for a Packers team that was actually a top-12 DVOA squad with the declining Rodgers in 2022.”
As Gagnon pointed out, this unit was pretty solid in 2022 with Rodgers playing below his accustomed level. Upgrading to someone like Mahomes could turn this unit into one of the most productive ones in the NFL.
Having a player the caliber of Mahomes would certainly raise the level of his teammates around him. Green Bay is full of question marks offensively, where running backs Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon are potentially the only skill position starters with more than one year of NFL experience.
There is only so much a player even of Mahomes’ caliber can do without some experienced weapons around him. But, if the young players found their groove and things clicked, this offense would be very explosive given the strong running game already in place.