Green Bay Packers training camp battles: No. 3 quarterback

We continue our “Packers 100” countdown with a look at the top-10 position battles in training camp. Green Bay Packers football is just 54 days away. You can find the full countdown here.

It might be a quiet August for Aaron Rodgers. With the Packers set to play five preseason games next month, Green Bay’s starting quarterback may only see action in two or three of these contests.

Expect a heavy dose of Brett Hundley, Joe Callahan, and Marquise Williams this exhibition season.

With Hundley secure as the Packers’ top backup quarterback, Callahan and Williams will be in neck-and-neck race for the last spot at the position. The Packers may keep three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster this season, but even if they only go into the fall with two, they will probably still sign one to the practice squad.

So, in one way or another the Packers will go into the regular season with three quarterbacks, and the five preseason games will go a long way in determining who earns the third quarterback job.

No. 3 quarterback: Joe Callahan vs. Marquise Williams

Ultimately, the Packers’ third quarterback will be the player that shows the best command of the playbook and makes the most plays in the preseason. However, Callahan and Williams both bring different skill sets to the position.

Williams is an intriguing duel-threat quarterback with a strong arm and good pocket composure. As a senior at North Carolina, he not only threw for 3,072 yards and 24 touchdowns, but he also gained 948 yards on the ground on 158 rushing attempts, an average of six yards per attempt.

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His 13 rushing touchdowns in 2015 were tied for the third most in the ACC, and it was his second consecutive season scoring 13 rushing touchdowns. He even set a North Carolina record with 35 career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback.

Williams most impressive games as a runner were against Miami and Georgia Tech this last season, where he led his team to victory in both contests by running for 101 yards and three touchdowns and 148 yards and two touchdowns, respectively.

As a senior, Williams finished in the top-ten in the ACC in all of the major rushing categories, and he helped orchestrate the conference’s top scoring offense, which averaged a whopping 40.7 points per game. With Williams under center, North Carolina finished second in rushing, passing, and total offense in the ACC.

Williams is one of the more productive quarterbacks coming out of college. However, his film is hit or miss. He makes plenty of plays with both his arm and feet, but he also makes plenty of errant throws and his questionable decision-making at times can lead to turnovers or kill drives.

To beat out Callahan for the third quarterback spot, Williams is going to have to show better decision-making as a pro. He’ll need to keep a cool head and not force the ball into coverage.

Callahan can also scramble and is a decent athlete. He ran for seven scores as a senior. However, it wasn’t his accomplishments as a runner that landed him in an NFL training camp.

In 2015, Callahan became only the second player in college football history to throw for 5,000 yards or more and 55 touchdowns in the same season. The New Jersey native dominated the D3 football scene as a three-year starter at Wesley College, earning conference all-pro honors and the East Region Offensive Player of the Year award as a senior.

Callahan’s gaudy passing numbers in college reflect a player with a strong arm and good command of the huddle. However, Callahan is going to have to prove in camp that the jump from Division-III competition to the NFL isn’t too much for the 23-year-old quarterback.

It’s hard for any player to make this type of jump. Guys like Ali Marpet, Fred Jackson, Cecil Shorts, and Jerrell Freeman have managed to do it successfully in recent memory. However, this transition has proven especially difficult for quarterbacks.

Last year, Green Bay even took a shot with Matt Blanchard, who played his collegiate career at UW-Whitewater, but the Illinois native wasn’t able to even crack a spot on the practice squad and is now bouncing around the fringe of NFL rosters. It’s difficult to find any current NFL quarterback who came from a D3 program.

However, if any D3 quarterback would get a shot to land a job in the NFL, it would be Callahan. Not only did he earn the Gagliardi Trophy in 2015 and break several D3 passing records, he also didn’t have a single game as a senior where he threw under 300 yards.

It’ll be interesting to see how Callahan stacks up against NFL talent once camp starts. Williams may have a leg up, coming for a Power-Five conference and facing NFL-caliber talent in college, but Callahan may be the better pure passer.

We’ll see next month which quarterback gets it together, demonstrates a command of the huddle, and makes key throws in the preseason to earn a job on the Packers roster.

Next: Green Bay Packers: Top 30 moments in franchise history

It should be an interesting competition to track throughout training camp.

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