Ex-UCLA QB Brett Hundley falls to Green Bay Packers in 5th round of NFL Draft

By foxsports
Published

Brett Hundley has officially made it to the next level.

Hundley was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. Green Bay orchestrated a trade with the New England Patriots to move up 19 spots to No. 147 to draft the former UCLA quarterback.

He was a second-team All-Pac 12 selection last season, finishing his Bruins' career with 75 total touchdowns and 11,677 total yards. 

There was a lot of debate as to where Hundley might be selected in the draft, as high as the third round or as low as the fifth round. Even though Hundley appeared to be a very competent collegiate quarterback, questions about his pocket presence as a passer and ability to read an NFL defense really hurt his draft stock. 

Hundley is a dual-threat quarterback who now needs to focus more on the quarterback aspects of the position and less on running. The Packers have the time to allow Hundley to season before setting any expectations for the future, as Aaron Rodgers, arguably the NFL's best, likely will be under center in Green Bay until he retires.

If you remember, Rodgers was selected by the Packers when a quarterback named Brett Favre still was winning games in Green Bay. But it's widely known that Favre did very little to help Rodgers get accustomed to the league. The former Cal quarterback served as Favre's backup for three seasons before taking over as the starter.

The path Rodgers took from Day 1 at training camp to Day 1 as the Packers' starter bodes well for a kid like Hundley, who needs a lot of work before he will be considered a starting-caliber quarterback in the NFL.

While Hundley might be disappointed he fell to the fifth round, there are few situations that currently are better for him than Green Bay. The Packers have no set-in-stone backup to Rodgers, as Matt Blanchard and Scott Tolzien are average-to-below-average NFL backup quarterbacks.

The Packers moved up 19 spots to select Hundley for a reason, and it's definitely within reason to believe Hundley could enter the 2015 regular season as the team's No. 2 quarterback.