Depth-chart impactīecause of where he was drafted, one would think Clifford immediately slots in at No. Head coach Matt LaFleur didn’t seem to have a preference when asked at the NFL owners’ meetings if he’d rather have a rookie or a veteran as a backup for Love, but it seems he might have gotten both in a player entering his first year who’s older than Green Bay’s starter. The Packers hope the 6-foot-2 Clifford won’t play as a rookie because that would mean Love, and maybe even someone else, got hurt. I’ve been watching him for a while, so I’m just excited to learn and grow and contribute in every way.” And same with Jordan,” Clifford said on a conference call after he was picked. “Obviously, Aaron (Rodgers) has a great track record - a fantastic quarterback, one of the best. Clifford and Danny Etling, who has never played in a regular-season game since entering the league in 2018 as a seventh-round pick, are the only other quarterbacks on the roster. With the trade of Rodgers to the Jets, the Packers don’t have a backup quarterback behind Love. How he fitsĭespite the Packers seeming to reach for Clifford, he has a chance to make the 53-man roster as a rookie. He joins his former college left tackle, Packers 2022 seventh-round pick Rasheed Walker, in Green Bay. In 51 games started over his Penn State career, Clifford completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 10,661 yards, 86 touchdowns and 31 interceptions. He was a team captain all four years he started and an All-Big Ten honorable mention selection three times. Clifford first started playing for Penn State in 2017, when he redshirted before starting from 2019 through 2022. 33 to the Titans in the second round, transferred from Penn State because he couldn’t beat out Clifford. Packers fans, get to know Clifford who spent 6 seasons at PSU, 4 as the starter įun fact about Clifford: Will Levis, a projected top-10 pick in this year’s draft who went No. Beat out Will Levis multiple times, as you surely know. Other quarterbacks still available when the Packers picked Clifford were BYU’s Jaren Hall, Stanford’s Tanner McKee and TCU’s Max Duggan. Really excited to help the team in any way possible.” Big board rankingĬlifford was not on Brugler’s big board of the top 300 draft prospects. I think just all around, it just felt like a really good fit, and when you have those kinds of conversations, you definitely have hopes, so I was really excited to see that name pop up on the phone. “I just felt like the coaching staff, the people there, the town, it just fit me really well, and I’m really happy to be a Green Bay Packer. “The conversations were great, especially when I went up for the top-30 visit,” Clifford said. It’s no surprise the Packers took a quarterback this year - they drafted two entering Aaron Rodgers’ first year as starter in 2008 - but it’s quite the surprise they took this one even though he visited Green Bay in the pre-draft process. Overall, Clifford throws well on the move and NFL teams love his toughness and smarts, but his current decision-making and ball placement are too inconsistent for what is required at the next level.” However, he needs to get through his progressions quicker and make things easier on his receivers to finish catches. While we won’t find out the Jets’ upcoming schedule till later this year, here's a look at the teams' upcoming opponents, which unfortunately won't include Green Bay:Ĭlick here to follow the Under Center Podcast.Brugler writes this of Clifford: “He was effective in a college RPO-based system, and his willingness to hang tough in the pocket or utilize his mobility helped keep drives alive. Rodgers will begin his 19th NFL season with the Jets when the season kicks off this fall. He's thrown 80 passes for 597 yards and scored three touchdowns and three interceptions, but now he looks to be at the starting position under center for Green Bay for the upcoming season. Since entering the league in 2020, the 24-year-old backup quarterback has played extremely limited snaps in his career. How Bears rookie WR Tyler Scott learned a lot from one rep against Jaylon Johnson
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