Packers have been leaders of the arms race

In today’s NFL, finding the next quarterback to run your organization and become the face of the franchise must be at the top of every General Managers list. Not only is finding a star quarterback important, but organizations need to be able to know when they should start looking for the “next” one.

The Green Bay Packers are one team who has been ahead of the curve since 1992.

Ron Wolf was an assistant general manager of the New York Jets during the 1991 NFL Draft. Wolf wanted to draft a young quarterback from Southern Miss named Bret Favre. However, he was selected one pick earlier by the Atlanta Falcons, going in the second round at No. 33 overall. 

As fate would have it, Ron Wolf was hired as the Packers General Manager months after the 1991 draft. Heading into the 1992 season, Wolf had two first round picks and was able to move the 17th overall pick obtained from the Philadelphia Eagles to the Atlanta Falcons for the second-year quarterback. 

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other sources, during the physical after the trade, Favre was diagnosed with avascular necrosis of the hip, the same degenerative condition that ended Bo Jackson’s football and baseball career. The doctors recommended his physical be failed, which would nullify the trade. 

Wolf overruled them. Packer’s fans couldn’t have be happier.

Favre started his first game in week four, a 17-3 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, and this would be the first game of an NFL record 321 consecutive starts at the quarterback position.

Favre became the face of the franchise for 16 seasons. The gun-slinging quarterback won three MVPs in consecutive seasons (the only player in history to do this) and led the Packers to two Super Bowl games. The Packers beat the New England Patriots 35-21 in 1997 and lost to the Denver Broncos the following season 31-24. 

But the Packers saw Favre starting to slow down over time and thus selected his successor, a young quarterback named Aaron Rodgers out of the University of California in the 2005 draft.

Favre would have his worse season as a Packers quarterback in 2005, as the team won only four games. He struggled again in 2006, throwing for 18 touchdowns and 18 interceptions, improving their record to .500.  

But after a bounce back season in 2007, Favre announced his retirement from the NFL.  His decision to leave came amidst a time when Aaron Rodgers was starting to lose patience as a backup quarterback and trade rumors for him began to surface.  

Favre remained retired for only a year and then re-entered the league and finished his career with the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings, playing thee more seasons in total. His legacy with the Packers was Hall of Fame worthy, earning 160 wins while amassing 61,655 yards and 442 touchdowns.

Rodgers took the reins, but not everything went smoothly for him in his first year as a starter. The team went 6-10, even though the youngster threw for 4,038 yards and 28 touchdowns. 

But time and experience proved valuable, and Rodgers carved a path that will lead him to Canton too. In just his fourth year as a starter, the 28-year-old led the Packers back to the Superbowl. He went 24 of 39 for 304 yards and three touchdowns in Green Bay’s 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. For his efforts, Rodgers was named the game’s MVP, the first Packers quarterback to win the award since Bart Starr in Super Bowl II. 

Rodgers went on to start for the Pack for 15 seasons and won four league MVP awards. 

As a 37-year-old in 2020, the Packers knew it was time to look for Rodgers’s replacement. Management selected quarterback Jordan Love out of Utah State with the 26th pick of the draft. 

Rodgers said publicly he was not thrilled but would welcome Love to the team but led Green Bay to back-to-back 13-3 seasons in 2020-2021. After falling to 8-9 in 2022, Green Bay traded their face of the franchise to the New York Jets, allowing for Love to take over. Rodgers finished his Packers career with a 147-75-1 record, while throwing for 59,055 yards and 475 touchdowns. 

The Packers now turned to their third face of the franchise in the past 32 seasons in Jordan Love. In Love’s first season he led the Packers to a 9-8 record and a huge wild card win over the heavily favored Cowboys. To say Love has his work cut out for him is an understatement, but after a solid start, is it hard to imagine the Packers hitting a homerun again? 

Since trading for Favre in 1992, the Green Bay Packers have the best win percentage (.644) and the most wins (333) in the league. While the Packers have been winning and starting only three quarterbacks in as many decades, other organizations have gone through countless starting quarterbacks during this time. In fact, teams like the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets at times averaged three starters per season.

And to think Favre failed his physical. What kind of butterfly effect may have come from his return to the Falcons if Ron Wolf didn’t have his way.