Packers: Trading Brett Hundley was the correct choice

The Green Bay Packers’ decision to trade Brett Hundley was the right call.

On Wednesday, the Green Bay Packers made a deal with the Seattle Seahawks to trade quarterback Brett Hundley for a 2019 sixth-round pick. This was a move many anticipated since Green Bay traded for DeShone Kizer in the spring of this year.

However, on paper when looking at Hundley and Kizer’s stats, they are very similar quarterbacks. Even this preseason they’ve had similar stat lines, Hundley even outperforming Kizer in most categories.

The decision to go with Kizer as the backup and trade Hundley may have been more difficult than the coaching staff wanted it to be, but they made the right choice.

Hundley took a lot of heat for his poor 2017 season under center as the Packers’ main quarterback. He completed 60.8 percent of his throws, which isn’t terrible, but he was afraid of pushing the ball down field. Hundley only averaged 5.8 yards per throwing attempt last season.

Pre-snap he struggled to read the defensive coverages and in the pocket was very slow in moving through his progressions. That coupled with at times poor pocket presence, led to a number of sacks and poor throwing decisions.

The Packers’ offense struggled moving the ball, with Hundley only throwing nine touchdown passes and averaging a meek 167 yards per game through the air.

Hundley has appeared to be a better quarterback this preseason, but don’t let these few games fool you. He’s put up better numbers completing over 62 percent of his passes, throwing one touchdown and one interception, with a passer rating of 81.2.

But if we rewind to his 2017 preseason performance, it was very similar. Hundley had a completion percentage of 63 percent, while throwing three touchdowns to one interception, and having a rating of 88.8. Unfortunately, he appears to be the same Hundley as last preseason.

Kizer, in his brief career, hasn’t exactly lit up the football field by any means either. As a rookie quarterback, he was part of the Browns’ 0-16 season, starting 15 of those games. In looking at his rookie season, we do need to factor in his position and the franchise that he played for.

Quarterbacking an NFL team is one of the toughest jobs in sports, regardless of your talent out of college, it’s a huge chore for any rookie. Taking that aspect and combining it with being a Cleveland Brown, one of the worst run franchises in all of sports, it’s a recipe for disaster.

A far cry from Hundley who was a third-year player and with a very stable organization. Kizer was able to put up similar stats to Hundley last season and was able to do so with far less help.

Coming out of Notre Dame, Kizer was touted as having all the measurables you want in a quarterback. He’s tall, quick on his feet when out of the pocket, and can make all the throws on a football field. The potential is there and being in practices and the quarterback room daily with Aaron Rodgers is only going to increase his chances of success.

Even before Rodgers’ contract extension, it wasn’t the plan for either of these guys to be his successor. The Packers need someone who can learn the system and make the plays necessary when called on in the backup role.

Hundley has shown us that even after having a few years under Rodgers and working alongside him, he doesn’t have what it takes to run this offense. But it’s definitely worth giving a young guy like Kizer a shot and seeing what kind of player he can turn in to.