Hundley's Prolonged Audition Continues for Minicamp

Brett Hundley's third act will continue this week for open minicamp practices, and he'll get an even bigger opportunity to shine in his temporary lead role.

The third-year Packers quarterback is going to be leading the first-team offense this week for the duration of minicamp, as stated by head coach Mike McCarthy during his pre-practice presser early Tuesday morning. It's an opportunity that won't come often as the veterans are given the week off. 16 of them, to be exact.

"These practices that are in front of us today, tomorrow and Thursday are clearly designed for our younger players," McCarthy said. "I told them last week that these practices, in my view, are the most important practice of the offseason program."

Hundley has two seasons under his belt with not much to show for it—thank Aaron Rodgers for that—aside from some stellar preseason play. However, the same can also be said for third-string quarterback Joe Callahan.

While Callahan won't be presented with the same opportunity to lead the starting group in practice this week, he still has evidently caught the eye of a few teams over the course of the last year.

Once the Packers released him last October after rewarding him a surprise spot on the 53-man roster, he was signed a day later by the Saints and released a week after that. It took two days for him to land with the Browns, and over a month for them to release him as well.

Callahan's road trip culminated with him landing back in Green Bay where he currently stands as the team's back-up to the back-up quarterback. His flashes in the preseason make him a valuable asset to have waiting in the wing.

You can praise Callahan, but it's the Hundley show this week, whose practice time may be an opportunity for other teams to watch closely and scout a possible future addition to their team. It as already rumored that the Packers were trying to trade Hundley during April's NFL Draft.

Is there a chance that Hundley is still trade bait?

There's been visual evidence for what happens when the Packers don't have a serviceable situation behind their starting quarterback in the event of injury. Seneca Wallace, Scott Tolzien and Matt Flynn can attest to this.

The Packers may not want to trade away an emergency option, but if the offer is right from an opposing team, it would definitely be something to consider. It'll come down to what Hundley shows in both practice and his extensive time in the preseason games this coming August.

"A lot of good comes out of this, and face it: 20 percent of your football team is going to be first-year players," McCarthy continued. "That's what the statistics will tell you.

"I'm hoping to see some guys take a jump this week, it's only natural they will because they have more opportunities for that."

Other teams may see more in Hundley than a quarterback with a 20 percent career completion percentage, 17 yards and one interception to his name. Instead, they may see someone with promise—especially after sitting for two, going on three seasons behind Rodgers.

That was the same old song and dance for Rodgers 12 years ago. Drafted into the league, sitting for three seasons behind Brett Favre, being ran through McCarthy's quarterback school. Hundley didn't have the same luxury, but learning under Rodgers is one nice start.

Needless to say, the Packers came close to swapping Hundley out once for a bargain that just wasn't there. There's no telling whether or not they'll do it again. Especially not after a team like the Seahawks once threw down a $20.5 million dollar contract for Flynn in 2012 after his historic season finale performance against the Lions.

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Zachary Jacobson is a staff writer/reporter for Cheesehead TV. He's the voice of The Leap on iTunes and can be heard on The Scoop KLGR 1490 AM every Saturday morning. He's also a contributor on the Pack-A-Day Podcast. He can be found on Twitter via @ZachAJacobson or contacted through email at [email protected].

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Comments (2)

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CheesyTex's picture

June 13, 2017 at 09:40 pm

Hundley has all the tools and, like Rodgers did, has the luxury of learning the game from the bench. Hope he has it in him to be the Pack's third great QB in a row.

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PatrickGB's picture

June 14, 2017 at 08:55 am

He may be the new "Mr. August". However, he has not played well in relief of Rodgers in real games. I have not been impressed and neither have other teams. Anything above a 5th round pick for him would be gravy. If Aaron goes down for any length of time our season is over anyway.

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