A Packers-Broncos trade for the most unexpected Jordan Love replacement

The Green Bay Packers did their due diligence at the end of the offseason, making a trade to acquire Malik Willis to be their backup quarterback. It took just one game for their starter, Jordan Love, to go down with an ugly knee injury. Willis stepped in for two plays at the end of the game against the Philadelphia Eagles and he looked bad. Willis misfired on a simple throw before taking a sack to end the game.

The Love knee injury looked serious, but the official diagnosis turned out to be a sprained MCL instead of something more serious. Still, this holds a recovery timetable of at least a month, with some cases taking multiple months to heal from.

Green Bay can't afford to be 1-5 or 2-5 when Love returns. They just can't afford to be that low in the standings. They need some kind of stopgap at quarterback and Malik Willis likely isn't the answer. Willis will likely lead the Packers to lose five or six of their first eight games.

Green Bay needs another cheap option that has a bit more experience playing in the NFL.

A Packers-Broncos trade to bring a former top pick to Green Bay for dirt cheap

I'm speaking of new Denver Broncos third string quarterback, Zach Wilson.

The trade is simple. It's very similar to the deal that landed the Broncos Wilson in the first place. The Packers would send a 2025 sixth-round pick to Denver to acquire Wilson and a 2025 seventh-round pick. The Broncos would be trading up a round while the Packers slide back a round.

Let me preface something here too.

Zach Wilson is not a good NFL quarterback. That's why this deal is so cheap. But he does have some talent deep down inside him. That's the very reason that he was picked at the top of the first round in the 2021 NFL Draft. The conversation here isn't about whether Zach Wilson is the QB of the future. The question is whether you would rather have him or Malik Willis until Love returns.

If Love's injury was a one- or two-week thing, then keeping Willis could work. But Willis wasn't the top QB picked in a bad QB class for a reason. He holds a ton of potential, but at this point, it's untapped potential.

Wilson wouldn't be a game-changer, but he has more experience than Willis. Wilson wouldn't be the best thing in Green Bay, but he would be an upgrade over what they have and he would give the Packers a better chance to win until Love returns.