Blake Bortles to Packers on 1 year deal

[Pokerbrat2000]

I doubt Bortles is coming to be a 3rd string QB. If he's on the roster in week 1, he'll either be 1st string (Rodgers gone) or 2nd string (Love not being ready).

Agreed or Rodgers is there and Love and Gute are gone

 

[PackAttack12]

Agreed or Rodgers is there and Love and Gute are gone

I'm good with Love going. But I want Gute to stay.

 

[DoURant]

Overall, I think it was a smart choice, considering Bortles and Hackett worked together in Jacksonville.

 

[OldSchool101]

I’m fine with this as long as he’s in earshot of veteran minimum.. and he didn’t play in the Mountain West.. or even vacation there.

 

[thisisnate]

my point is that signing bortles doesn't push the needle anywhich way
signing him means nothing we didn't already know

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

my point is that signing bortles doesn't push the needle anywhich way
signing him means nothing we didn't already know

What if they had signed 1 or 2 UDFA QB's? What would that have told you?

Maybe The Packers are changing their philosophy and wanting a proven vet starter behind Rodgers and as has been reported "Love isn't ready to play just yet." Or The Packers aren't feeling very confident that Rodgers will be playing for them in 2021 and Bortles is insurance against that. I just find it hard to believe that Bortles was signed to be 3rd in the depth chart.

 

[thisisnate]

What if they had signed 1 or 2 UDFA QB's? What would that have told you?

Maybe The Packers are changing their philosophy and wanting a proven vet starter behind Rodgers and as has been reported "Love isn't ready to play just yet." Or The Packers aren't feeling very confident that Rodgers will be playing for them in 2021 and Bortles is insurance against that. I just find it hard to believe that Bortles was signed to be 3rd in the depth chart.

nobody said he is the 3rd guy, and he may not be
what i am saying is that we don't know what he will be
if we don't know, then the signing tells us nothing other than that we signed another QB as Gute said we would
trying too hard to read between the lines
don't make me call you mini-Scheft

 

[tynimiller]

So...stewing on this for an evening I have to agree Bortles is not coming here to be a 3rd QB option I don't believe...in the sense of being 3rd on the depth chart. To me this signals with certainty in my mind of one of three things:

Love is not ready, and the team knows it and Bortles is the new Boyle #2

Love is getting moved as part of the "appease Rodgers campaign"

Gute is hedging bets with probably the most capable available free agent QB out there still incase Rodgers really will not be in Green Bay. In which case Blake is at worst #2 to Love but I bet starts.


I just don't feel Blake is the guy you bring in to just be an arm...plethora of UDFAs out there for that or other dudes.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Gute is hedging bets with probably the most capable available free agent QB out there still incase Rodgers really will not be in Green Bay. In which case Blake is at worst #2 to Love but I bet starts..

I think that this is the most likely scenario and the Packers have already come out and said that Love isn't ready, so Bortles is either #1 or #2. Perhaps that admission about Love, was an oh crap moment and the Packers thought they better get a backup for Aaron and there really aren't any other guys with enough experience that they wanted to just sign anyone. I would get that if that was the Packers typical mode of operation, but it hasn't been. Boyle was his backup last year and he was a huge unknown. For most of Rodgers career, he has been backed by guys with little or no experience. Possibly when Flynn (2nd stint), Kizer and Seneca Wallace are exceptions to this. However Flynn and Wallace were signed in season, due to injuries. So really Kizer has been the only #2 behind Aaron to start a season, with much experience. I also believe Kizer was viewed more of a reclamation project that was viewed as a worthy backup, but maybe a starter for some team down the road if they developed him.

Gute and MLF may have a different philosophy on #12's backup these days, I guess we will see.

trying too hard to read between the lines
don't make me call you mini-Scheft

LOL...I doubt many of us would be here if we didn't want to think about and speculate on things like this. If you are just saying "don't freak out, this doesn't necessarily mean that Aaron is gone"...sure, you are right. Last question, if you were the Packers and you knew the odds of Aaron coming back were slim, who would you sign?

 

[thisisnate]

LOL...I doubt many of us would be here if we didn't want to think about and speculate on things like this. If you are just saying "don't freak out, this doesn't necessarily mean that Aaron is gone"...sure, you are right. Last question, if you were the Packers and you knew the odds of Aaron coming back were slim, who would you sign?

all i'm saying is
did we already know aaron might not be back? yeah we already knew that
did we already know jordan love might not be ready yet? yeah we already knew that
this tells us nothing new that we weren't already talking about for the last 3 or w/e weeks
conversations on this forum 9 times out of 10, no exception here, devolve into two people saying the same thing repeatedly in slightly different words
but i think we've both made our perspectives clear here in enough different combinations of words to appeal to people of all levels of reading comprehension

 

[PikeBadger]

So...stewing on this for an evening I have to agree Bortles is not coming here to be a 3rd QB option I don't believe...in the sense of being 3rd on the depth chart. To me this signals with certainty in my mind of one of three things:

Love is not ready, and the team knows it and Bortles is the new Boyle #2

Love is getting moved as part of the "appease Rodgers campaign"

Gute is hedging bets with probably the most capable available free agent QB out there still incase Rodgers really will not be in Green Bay. In which case Blake is at worst #2 to Love but I bet starts.


I just don't feel Blake is the guy you bring in to just be an arm...plethora of UDFAs out there for that or other dudes.

I think it’s just a case of getting the best available talent in the building that they can find and afford. One more open slot, I expect they fill it with one more QB for camp.

 

[DoURant]

I'm good with Love going. But I want Gute to stay.

I was just watching Keyshawn, JWill, and Zubin on ESPN... Ahman Green was on the show, and he said a few years back, he approached Gute about wanting to be a scout. He spent 4 hours breaking down the tape of Cobb, DBak, and Kenny Clark for Gute. Green said when they were done, Gute basically told him he was over qualified, and didn't really expand on his answer. I mean, if you feel someone is over qualified, let them know what you feel they should do (e.g. coaching) Green went on to say he felt that Gute has poor communication skills. Maybe the Aaron/drafting Love issue isn't an isolated incident, and more a pattern of poor communication skills, but was never brought to light until he pissed off the franchise QB.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

all i'm saying is
did we already know aaron might not be back? yeah we already knew that
did we already know jordan love might not be ready yet? yeah we already knew that
this tells us nothing new that we weren't already talking about for the last 3 or w/e weeks
conversations on this forum 9 times out of 10, no exception here, devolve into two people saying the same thing repeatedly in slightly different words
but i think we've both made our perspectives clear here in enough different combinations of words to appeal to people of all levels of reading comprehension

I liken what many of us do here to trying to solve/build a jigsaw puzzle together on just about anything Packers. Sometimes its a 2 piece puzzle, simple and easy. Sometimes, as it seems in the case of Aaron Rodgers, its a 10,000 piece puzzle, that is still very unclear what it will even look like when completed. So here some of us are, having fun trying to piece the puzzle together, see which pieces actually are a part of the puzzle and which ones some how got dropped into the wrong box and don't fit this particular puzzle. You may not think the Bortles signing is a puzzle piece and in some way it connects to the news that Love isn't ready to start, but I do. As would I think that the signing of a rookie UDFA QB would have been a piece that had a place in the puzzle.

Back to building the mystery puzzle.....

 

[PikeBadger]

Lol, my immediate thought is: Wonder how Green felt about Ted Thompson’s communication skills.

 

[PikeBadger]

I liken what many of us do here to trying to solve/build a jigsaw puzzle together on just about anything Packers. Sometimes its a 2 piece puzzle, simple and easy. Sometimes, as it seems in the case of Aaron Rodgers, its a 10,000 piece puzzle, that is still very unclear what it will even look like when completed. So here some of us are, having fun trying to piece the puzzle together, see which pieces actually are a part of the puzzle and which ones some how got dropped into the wrong box and don't fit this particular puzzle. You may not think the Bortles signing is a puzzle piece and in some way it connects to the news that Love isn't ready to start, but I do. As would I think that the signing of a rookie UDFA QB would have been a piece that had a place in the puzzle.

Back to building the mystery puzzle.....

The big missing piece is Aaron Rodgers speaking publicly, assuming he speaks truthfully.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

The big missing piece is Aaron Rodgers speaking publicly, assuming he speaks truthfully.

I agree and I doubt he does, until it is resolved. Feels like he is speaking through friends and potentially we will hear more through MacAfee and AJ, but they admitted to having no new news the other day.

 

[tynimiller]

I was just watching Keyshawn, JWill, and Zubin on ESPN... Ahman Green was on the show, and he said a few years back, he approached Gute about wanting to be a scout. He spent 4 hours breaking down the tape of Cobb, DBak, and Kenny Clark for Gute. Green said when they were done, Gute basically told him he was over qualified, and didn't really expand on his answer. I mean, if you feel someone is over qualified, let them know what you feel they should do (e.g. coaching) Green went on to say he felt that Gute has poor communication skills. Maybe the Aaron/drafting Love issue isn't an isolated incident, and more a pattern of poor communication skills, but was never brought to light until he pissed off the franchise QB.

So public speaking is very different from interpersonal conversations, but Gute has never struck me as a guy that conveys genuineness or authentic nature in communications. This is not a bad trait to have, especially in his role - I call it a clinical view. It is seen in the way he formulates his answers, statements and even when off the cuff "talking" with folks. Honestly, for the management side of things that is why he is PERFECT for the job...likewise though it is VERY tough for those people to thrive in relationship forming inside a community (whatever that is) - in this case a football organization.

Take Ted Thompson for instance, Ted had his issues and viewpoints many disagreed with at times - but the dude was genuine, and it always came across even in presser settings to me. Which if you can come across that way there, one on one conversations typically only amplify that.

ALL THAT said we still must circle back to the main issue for me in this whole saga: Aaron Rodgers. He is the sole individual that can immediately provide clarity to precisely what is going on, what is true and what is not - and him sitting quietly in the shadows watching an implosion of an organization which holds the hearts of the fans he claims to love is something which to me is screaming a lot about the man he is.

I 100% get he is a private individual and prefers less than more media time - but for God's sake, folks are out here declaring his thoughts and words which at times are slinging mud harder than a presidential election has in it. Man up, step up and clear up this whole thing. I don't care if that is the stance,

"I'm done and will never play another down for Green Bay because of x,y and z....or if it is I want to play but won't with Gute in charge....or I'll play but need a display of committment from GB to me (cut Love and extend)...." Just say something, sitting in the corner silently encourages all the middle school level gossip bull**** fest we have occurring.

 

[PackAttack12]

ALL THAT said we still must circle back to the main issue for me in this whole saga: Aaron Rodgers. He is the sole individual that can immediately provide clarity to precisely what is going on, what is true and what is not - and him sitting quietly in the shadows watching an implosion of an organization which holds the hearts of the fans he claims to love is something which to me is screaming a lot about the man he is.

I 100% get he is a private individual and prefers less than more media time - but for God's sake, folks are out here declaring his thoughts and words which at times are slinging mud harder than a presidential election has in it. Man up, step up and clear up this whole thing. I don't care if that is the stance,

"I'm done and will never play another down for Green Bay because of x,y and z....or if it is I want to play but won't with Gute in charge....or I'll play but need a display of committment from GB to me (cut Love and extend)...." Just say something, sitting in the corner silently encourages all the middle school level gossip bull**** fest we have occurring.

This is where you've been losing me. Of course the fan in all of us would love to see Rodgers come out and clear this whole thing up, but that's not how you force change. Whatever it is that he's seeking, he feels it is accomplished by keeping silent. You might not like it or even respect it, but if he feels it's necessary to accomplish whatever it is he's trying to accomplish, then that's obviously what he's going to do.

Rodgers has been a good solider for a very long time. Clearly things have developed that are not to his liking. And he's not going to cave at this point to the Packers and concede basically everything that he's trying to get.

 

[tynimiller]

Crap, I was the worst yet, This is a thread for Blake Bortles...let's look at what he has done..ignoring the back up year with Rams last season the 5 seasons in JAX:

Passes Attempted: 2,632
Passes Completed: 1,561
% Completed: 59.3 - never less than 58.6 or higher than 60.3 in those years.
103 TDs - 75 INTs

His Passer Rating for thos 5 years 80.6
Threw for over 3,500 yards 3 of thos years and over 4,000 once

I've always categorized him as a poor man's Alex Smith that was always playing from behind and had to try to force throws often.

 

[tynimiller]

This is where you've been losing me. Of course the fan in all of us would love to see Rodgers come out and clear this whole thing up, but that's not how you force change. Whatever it is that he's seeking, he feels it is accomplished by keeping silent. You might not like it or even respect it, but if he feels it's necessary to accomplish whatever it is he's trying to accomplish, then that's obviously what he's going to do.

Rodgers has been a good solider for a very long time. Clearly things have developed that are not to his liking. And he's not going to cave at this point to the Packers and concede basically everything that he's trying to get.

I never said I don't understand why he thinks it is the best thing to do, but no one will ever convince me this is the right thing to do. It is cowardice IMO - and that won't change. I just hope this whole situation changes and gets Rodgers under center again.

 

[Mondio]

Rodgers doesn't usually entertain things in the media, this isn't really much different.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

I 100% get he is a private individual and prefers less than more media time - but for God's sake, folks are out here declaring his thoughts and words which at times are slinging mud harder than a presidential election has in it. Man up, step up and clear up this whole thing. I don't care if that is the stance,

This is the part I don't buy, him being "private". Rather, he likes to control the narrative, as well as have sympathetic ears. Thus the McAffey show, Jeopardy, his interview last year with Danica, etc. I think he also likes to play games with the media and fans, intentional or unintentional, I am thinking a bit of both. I love Aaron for being smart, but sometimes I get the feeling he is trying a bit too hard at being the smartest person in the room and this can come across as arrogant, cold and calculating. I dont' think he really is any of those things, but sometimes what you project, can live inside of you.

 

[GreenNGold_81]

I think the move speaks to the need for a veteran QB to help run their camps. With Rodgers possibly MIA, and Love being the only other guy they want people with experience. They probably see him as a guy who is familiar with the system who can help push Love (obviously that's Rodgers as well, but right now though I think he's coming back, it's not a guarantee). Love needs a full camp being the guy before he's ready IMO.

 

[gopkrs]

I like it. Bortles has had several good years with good TD/INT ratios. Maybe this will be a good fit for him. Definitely want him as the number two or three though. But I like the signing. He may be able to come in and win some games.

 

[Poppa San]

If the Packers were rebuilding or reloading mode, I could see going with a younger arm. They aren't there right now. This team is built to win now. Salary cap makes it so. Rodgers screws up his elbow/ankle week 10 and will be out until the bye week. Who do you want starting to continue the playoff positioning? An untested 2nd year player with only preseason experience that has done mop up duty off and on the previous few weeks or someone competent with several years of starting experience that has had the preseason and half the regular season to get in the playbook and on the same page as the HC.