"Countdown to camp" is a position-by-position overview of the Packers' roster heading into training camp. The series begins with the quarterbacks.

GREEN BAY – The hope and the plan is for Jordan Love to be healthier this year than he was last.

But if the Packers' QB1 does need to miss any time again in 2025, the team feels really good about who's behind him.

Love's injury issues started early last season, as he hurt his knee on the final possession of the opener against the Eagles in Brazil. That forced him to miss two games, and then while playing through the rest of his recovery, he subsequently injured his groin in Jacksonville in Week 8.

He missed the rest of that contest but no more game action until being removed as a precaution due to a hand injury in Week 18 against the Bears with the Packers already having secured their playoff spot.

The battles on the health front no doubt contributed to a more up-and-down season for Love in 2024 than what was anticipated following his strong finish the previous year.

He still posted a 96.7 passer rating, throwing for 25 TDs against 11 INTs, with all 11 picks coming by mid-November. Love (6-4, 219) then went seven games without an interception until the playoffs, posting a triple-digit passer rating in five straight games along the way.

How much the injuries impacted Love's game over the long haul last season only he knows. He's the last person to make any excuses, but also the first to say he's looking for better things in his third year at the helm.

"I'm never going to put anything on an injury," Love said this spring. "I'm going out there, if I'm healthy enough to go, I'm going to try to give it my best and be the best player I can be out there.

"I always hold myself to a high standard. Obviously it's not fun playing through injuries, but sometimes those are things you gotta do."

When Love wasn't able to go, the Packers were in great hands. Backup Malik Willis (6-1, 225), acquired at the end of training camp from Tennessee for just a seventh-round pick, won the two spot starts in Weeks 2-3 with Love sidelined, directed a game-winning drive after Love exited in Jacksonville, and would've posted a fourth victory in relief against Chicago if not for Green Bay defensive breakdowns that allowed the Bears to steal a walk-off win.

All told, Willis fashioned an impressive 124.8 passer rating (40-of-54, 550 yards, three TDs, zero INTs) and added 138 rushing yards and a TD as well. He's back for his second, and likely final, season as Love's top understudy as he plays out the final year of his rookie contract and then presumably looks to find a place he can compete for a starting job in 2026.

The only real intrigue at the position during camp is who will win the No. 3 job, and whether that QB will reside on the active roster or practice squad.

Last year's No. 3 was Sean Clifford (6-2, 218), a 2023 fifth-round draft pick who thus far in two summers of preseason games has completed 63-of-100 passes for 598 yards with two TDs and three INTs (73.7 rating). Clifford spent all of last season on the practice squad, except for his gameday promotions to the active roster to serve as Willis' backup when Love was out.

His competition is newcomer Taylor Elgersma (6-5, 227), who was signed after participating in the Packers' rookie minicamp as a tryout player. An Ontario native, Elgersma won the Canadian equivalent of the Heisman Trophy last year at Wilfrid Laurier University and was a second-round pick (No. 18 overall) in the CFL draft by Winnipeg.