If you remember the last time Aaron Rodgers missed an extended period of time, then you know this is significant. The Green Bay Packers are confident backup Brett Hundley can win games for them.
Quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt, himself a career NFL backup, said as much this week.
“Yes [he could],” Van Pelt said. “Right now.”
“If we didn’t [believe that], then we’d be a little nervous right now,” Van Pelt added. “But I don’t feel that way. I trust Brett to go in there and win. It’s not easy, but I expect him to do it.”
Rodgers’ last season of downtime was 2013, when he broke his collarbone and missed seven games. The Packers quickly found out that, hey, we need to invest in a competent backup. That became obvious after No. 2 QB Seneca Wallace was a disaster and No. 3 QB Scott Tolzien wasn’t ready.
Only bringing back Matt Flynn, who had failed with three teams in two seasons since leaving Green Bay as a free agent, allowed the Packers to tread water until Rodgers returned.
Flynn went into 2014 as the backup, even though Tolzien looked like the better player that preseason. In 2015, Tolzien finally got the No. 2 job and the Packers drafted Hundley, a former UCLA star, in the fifth round.
And finally, we all said, now we have a starting-caliber guy behind Rodgers.
Hundley looked great in the 2015 preseason and he’s looks improved during the Packers’ offseason program, this year. That’s a good thing too, since the Packers let Tolzien sign with Indianapolis as a free agent.
The only mystery about Hundley is if he can do it in the regular season. He hasn’t gotten any regular season action to date.
He certainly looks the part, though.