As far as NFL quarterback situations go, few teams are better lined up than the Packers. They have one of the more promising young starters in the league in Jordan Love, who completed 64.2% of his passes with 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions last year. At 25 years old, Love showed signs of a long and very productive career ahead of him.
Behind him, too, is a quarterback the Packers like: Sean Clifford, who is also 25 and was a fifth-round pick out of Penn State in 2023. Clifford made two relief appearances last year, and is slated to be back in the quarterback room again this year.
Yet, there is increasing buzz that the Packers will look to add to the quarterback stable in this year’s draft, even if the team uses only a late-round pick to do so. And longtime Packers writer Bill Huber of SI.com foresees the team taking a shot at a quarterback who is so far off the radar, he was not even invited to the Combine in February—24-year-old South Alabama sixth-year senior Carter Bradley.
Carter Bradley’s Father Is a Longtime NFL Coach
Bradley spent four years at Toledo but never got traction as the starter there, before playing well in two seasons at South Alabama, where he logged 5,995 yards and 47 touchdowns in 24 games over two seasons.
Huber predicts that the Packers will take a crack at him in the seventh round, with the 255th overall pick. He has worked out for the Steelers and Jets, and has NFL connections — his father is longtime NFL coach Gus Bradley, former head coach of the Jaguars and current defensive coordinator for the Colts.
“What’s to like?” Huber wrote. “His accuracy (66.0 percent his final two seasons) and size (6-foot-3 and 9 3/8-inch hands). What’s not to like? According to PFF, he completed just 45.3 percent of his passes when pressured and fumbled nine times. He is PFF’s 245th-ranked prospect and was not picked on (NFL.com analyst Chad) Reuter’s mock.”
There are, obviously, questions about Bradley as an NFL prospect but then, that’s why he’d be on the board at No. 255.
The scouting report on The 33rd Team wrote of Bradley: “Carter Bradley projects as a low-end backup who fits best in a play-action, half-field read offense. He has prototypical size for the position and solid arm strength to stretch the field. His short accuracy is sufficient, but his deep accuracy needs improvement as he struggles to consistently throw a catchable ball.”
Packers GM Wants to Draft a QB
Last year, the Packers carried two quarterbacks on the active roster, with Love and Clifford, and had Alex McGough on the practice squad. McGough was signed to a futures contract in January.
But during the NFL scouting combine, GM Brian Gutekunst said that the team wanted to get back to drafting quarterbacks and keeping them on the roster just as part of the natural development process.
“Getting back to drafting multiple quarterbacks is something that I’ve wanted to do,” Gutekunst said, per The Athletic. “We kind of went away from that for a few years and I’d like to get back to that because I just think having young, talented quarterbacks on your roster that the coaches can develop, I just think is really healthy and important for a franchise.”
With 11 picks in this year’s draft, the Packers could afford to use one of their choices to give Clifford some competition as the backup and to add insurance for an injury to Love. While the first six quarterbacks in the upcoming draft—Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, JJ McCarthy, Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr.—get the bulk of the attention, there will be decent middle-round options available.
South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler and Tulane’s Michael Pratt could be third-rounders, with Florida State’s Jordan Travis, Tennessee’s Joe Milton and Austin Reed of Western Kentucky also likely draft targets. There are a handful of fringe draftees who could go in the sixth or seventh rounds, and Bradley is firmly among them.
Pro Football Focus has Bradley rated the 245th best overall prospect in the draft, and the 13th quarterback on their big board.
