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The Green Bay Packers selected UCLA Bruins quarterback Brett Hundley in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. Whether or not he will see a prominent role this season is another question that has to be answered. Obviously, he isn’t going to start over superstar Aaron Rodgers, but the primary backup quarterback job is still very much up for grabs.
At 6-foot-3 and 226 pounds, he has the physical ability to become something special. Unfortunately, he has had some issues pulling everything together on the field and living up to his full potential.
Heading into training camp, the Packers are going to see Scott Tolzien, Matt Blanchard and Hundley competing against each other for the backup job. All three quarterbacks have advantages in different areas, although it appeared during OTAs that Tolzien and Blanchard were ahead of Hundley. Whether he gets beat out by both players or not, the Packers will likely keep him around on the practice squad.
During his 2014 season with UCLA, Hundley ended up throwing for 3,155 yards, 22 touchdowns and just five interceptions. He improved as a decision maker, which was a big improvement, and also as a leader for his team. Hundley also used his athleticism to rush for 644 yards and 10 touchdowns on 159 attempts.
Obviously, the Pacers were high enough on him to trade up into the fifth round to snag him. He likely won’t see the field in 2015 barring an injury to Rodgers, and there is a chance that he won’t even be the primary backup quarterback. If he lives up to his full potential during training camp, that should change and he will likely take over the lead backup job.
Needless to say, all eyes will be on him to see what type of potential he really has. Rodgers still has a good amount of time left playing at the level that he is currently at, but the Packers obviously wanted to upgrade the backup position to protect him.
At 22 years old, there is still a lot of potential for Hundley to reach for as the regular season continues drawing closer. Winning the backup job is his primary goal at this point in time, and if he can gather himself and put his game together he will win it. Mike McCarthy and the Packers’ coaching staff is excellent at developing young talent, and if he decides to allow them to mold his game he will be just fine.
That being said, Hundley will end up being with the Packers for two or three seasons no matter what he does in training camp this year. It has been obvious that Green Bay is very high on him, and they see something in him that they’d like to develop.
Expect to see him competing very strongly during camp for the backup job, and don’t be surprised if he comes away with it. He has the talent, but hard work and studying the game will help him get there.
Evan Massey is a featured writer for www.RantSports.com, and contributes across the NFL, MLB, NCAA and NBA portions of the site. Follow him on Twitter at @Massey_Evan and like him on Facebook.
