Former Lions quarterback Tim Boyle finds a new NFL landing spot

The New York Jets are bringing in a former Packers quarterback….as former Lion Tim Boyle has somehow found another NFL landing spot.

A former Green Bay Packers quarterback is coming to New York. No, no that one. According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, the New York Jets have signed Tim Boyle to a one-year deal.

Boyle of course started his career with the Packers, virtually never playing as Aaron Rodgers’ backup. He’ll also reunite Nathaniel Hackett, who is the Jets’ new offensive coordinator and was the Packers’ offensive coordinator for Boyle’s last two years in Green Bay.

Boyle signed with the Lions in 2021, to backup Jared Goff. He wound up starting three games Goff missed that season, throwing for 526 yards with three touchdowns, six interceptions and a 63.5 passer rating in those games. The Lions re-signed him, and he was signed off the practice squad by the Chicago Bears last November.

Boyle appeared in one game for the Bears last season, completing two of eight passes for 33 yards with two interceptions

Former Lions quarterback Tim Boyle somehow gets another NFL team to sign him

Off a less than spectacular college career at UConn and Eastern Kentucky, it’s something that Boyle even got an NFL opportunity. That he’s lasted this long in the league on any level is a minor miracle. The tie to Hackett is meaningful for the Jets though, and he may stick around as their No. 3 quarterback behind Rodgers (eventually) and Zack Wilson.

If the Lions had gotten merely respectable quarterback play in the games Goff missed in 2021, they might have won two of the three. Boyle could not provide that, but it worked out fine to lose all three and the Lions landed in the top-five of the 2022 draft.

Boyle would seem to be an ideal candidate to play, or at least be on a roster, in the XFL or the USFL. The evidence he’s anything close to an NFL-caliber quarterback is not anywhere on game tape, going back to his college days. But there is something about him that makes NFL teams willing to give him a paycheck of any kind, so kudos to him for that.