Our next QB?

MATT FLYNN

Everyone seems to be focused less on who our current quarterbacks are, and more on who the next one will be..... myself included.  The prevailing opinion is that our QB Of The Future is in next year's potentially bountiful NFL Draft.  It's an opinion I shared..... until now. 

I've considered the possibility that we could trade for our next QB instead of drafting him, with Brian Hoyer of the Patriots and Green Bay's Matt Flynn among the potential targets.  But that was before I heard this little nugget while watching the replay of the Packers preseason game against Cleveland;

Flynn is a free agent in 2012. 

Let me repeat that, and allow it to sink in.........

Matt Flynn can be had next offseason without giving up a single draft pick. 

With the elite Aaron Rodgers there, no way the Packers place the franchise tender on Flynn next year, and my understanding of the new CBA is that the less expensive restricted tenders no longer exist for fourth year players who arrive at the end of their contracts, which is what Flynn will be. 

Am I sure Flynn is the answer?  Absolutely not, who can be with such a limited sample size....but there are a LOT of people who think he's the next Kevin Kolb, a young, starting-caliber QB stuck in a backup role with no change in sight.  One of those who thinks Flynn is going to be an NFL starter is his current head coach Mike McCarthy, and while it's fair to suggest he may just be trying to bolster his trade value, Flynn has backed that up with strong showings in his only NFL start (in NE during the thick of a playoff hunt) and in his preseason opportunities. 

He JUST turned 26, is big enough (6-2, 225), mobile, and has spent 3 years in McCarthy's system.  Oh... and John Schneider was in Green Bay when he was drafted.

Maybe the reason we didn't want to commit to Matt Hasselbeck beyond this season wasn't that we were eyeing next year's draft, but Flynn instead.

Imagine if we could get him as a FA, freeing us to use our first round pick on other needs. 

Food for thought... just remember you heard it here first.