Green Bay Packers: Will Andrew Quarless meet expectations?

By Keegan Matheson | Jun 24, 2015

Tight end Andrew Quarless is entering his sixth season with the Green Bay Packers after joining the team in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. Despite some pedestrian receiving statistics thus far, he is still garnering buzz as a breakout player in 2015, and much of the chatter is coming from Quarless himself.

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The dead zone between minicamp and training camp leaves the NFL news cycle fairly thin, causing the issue of “breakout players” to become somewhat forced. Quarless has found a knack for pushing his own name into the headlines surrounding the Green Bay Packers, though, beginning earlier in the offseason when he said that he considered himself to be on the same level talent-wise as a Rob Gronkowski.

In five NFL seasons, one of which was lost entirely to injury (2012), Quarless has recorded 85 catches for 909 yards and six touchdowns. That’s three months for Gronkowski. He recently told Tyler Dunne of the Journal Sentinel that he still doesn’t feel like he gets the respect he deserves.

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“I definitely feel like an underdog,” Quarless said. “I watch the film — every week. I watch the film and see what’s out there. And I know myself and my potential. So I’ve been working hard, keeping that in the back of my mind and staying hungry, trying to be the best and take this team back to the Super Bowl.”

How will the 26 year old tight end, who set career highs in 2014 with 323 yards and three touchdowns, break through into the upper echelon on NFL tight ends with a season that would require him to nearly triple his peak production? Simply put: he won’t, and that’s just fine.

The chatter around Andrew Quarless is classic offseason posturing. At this time of the season, every player is in the “best shape of their life” or appearing “poised for a breakout year”. For Quarless’ vision to become reality, he’d first need to clearly surpass Richard Rodgers as the number one tight end on the depth chart.

Jan 11, 2015; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers tight end Richard Rodgers (89) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth quarter in the 2014 NFC Divisional playoff football game at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

According to Football Outsiders, Quarless was on the field for 60.0% of the Packers offensive snaps last season while Rodgers took the field for 45.5%. Those numbers should begin to flip in 2015 as Rodgers continue to establish himself as a receiver and distance himself from Quarless as a blocker quite comfortably.

With a full season of trust built between he and Aaron Rodgers, it would not be surprising to see Richard Rodgers top 500 yards with 3-5 touchdowns. Quarless, who should still see plenty of work as an H-back and in the red zone (not to mention his special teams contributions), will have every opportunity to top 400 yards and approach 500 himself. While this isn’t quite the Gronkowski level, it’s a career high, and that stat line would be extremely valuable to this offense.

This is not a damning take on Quarless, but more of a grounding of expectations. A true “breakout” would be a welcome sight to all eyes, mine especially, but I see a divide between the mind of Andrew Quarless and the reality of an NFL field. The Packers will not be expecting an elite tight end, they’ll be expecting Quarless. That’s who they’ll get, and that’s more than enough.

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