Monday, November 20, 2006

The Backup Brigade Begins

Less than 24 hours after QB Brett Favre injured his elbow and #2 QB Aaron Rodgers broke his foot, the Packers decided they would not make rookie QB Ingle Martin the immediate backup to Favre. Instead, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
The Packers contacted quarterbacks J.T. O'Sullivan, Todd Bouman and Bradlee Van Pelt Sunday night, according to an NFL source, and arranged to have them perform in front of coaches and scouts. O'Sullivan, 27, and Bouman, 34, both played for McCarthy in New Orleans - O'Sullivan was also on the Packers roster in 2004 - and Van Pelt, 26, has been in Denver's West Coast offense since being drafted in '04.

O'Sullivan, has bounced around the NFL and was part of the trade in which the Packers sent cornerback Mike McKenzie to the New Orleans Saints. Having played in just one game in his career, O'Sullivan is practice squad eligible and was last with New England.

Bouman, who has the strongest arm of the three, was Minnesota's No. 3 quarterback for four seasons and a backup to Daunte Culpepper for two years. In 2003, he signed a free agent contract with New Orleans and spent three seasons there, starting three games at the end of the 2005 season. He completed 68 of 122 passes for 722 yards with two touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Van Pelt was a seventh-round pick of Denver in 2004 and spent two seasons as the No. 3 quarterback. In 2005, he had a very good pre-season, completing 36 of 67 passes for 385 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. He was sacked seven times, however.

Call it a toss up. Will be interesting to see how the tryouts pan out. Hopefully as the season goes on, Brett will continue his ironman streak and who is #2 will not matter. At least not this year.