Coach Says New Packers QB Taylor Elgersma Shares Trait with Hall of Famer

Toronto Argonauts quarterbacks coach Mike Miller knows a little something about elite quarterback play. From 2007 through 2012, he was an assistant coach for the Arizona Cardinals. In 2009 and 2010, he served as their passing game coordinator. In 2011 and 2012, he was their offensive coordinator.

His quarterback for three seasons?

Hall of Famer Kurt Warner.

So, in regard to new Green Bay Packers quarterback Taylor Elgersma, Miller doesn’t make this comparison lightly.

“I think he’s like Kurt Warner-smart,” Miller told Packers On SI.

Miller also made that comparison to Argonauts head coach Ryan Dinwiddie. In Spring 2022, Elgersma was a sophomore at Wilfrid Laurier University and part of the CFL’s Quarterback Internship Program, in which top Canadian quarterbacks get to spend a few weeks participating in CFL training camps.

“I’m actually standing right now in the quarterback meeting room here at Guelph University where we have training camp,” Miller said on Friday. “And now that I know him, typical Taylor, he was already sitting in here with just a spiral notebook and pencil, and I came in and gave him this big playbook and it was me, him and Chad Kelly and Chad’s first year with us.

“There were nuances of this league that I wasn’t really that familiar with because my last trip up here was in 2013 with Montreal, and I had been in the XFL went into colleges and went on defense for a little bit. So, Taylor that first night was giving us shortcuts on how to cheat the protections, secondary indicators, and so that was great.”

While Elgersma was just a college quarterback at the time, Miller treated him as if he were one of the rostered professionals. He took reps during drills, had his play critiqued and was expected to know everyone’s assignment, no different than Kelly, who would emerge as the starter.

“He just joined right in and it was great,” Miller said. “You asked me my first impressions. I think it was on the second night, I told RD (Dinwiddie), ‘Look, I don’t what this kid’s going to be like on the field right now, but this kid’s crazy smart. He goes, ‘Oh, yeah?’ I go, ‘I’m going to say something here, but I feel pretty good about this. I think he’s Kurt Warner-smart.’ And he goes, ‘Really?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ To me personally, that’s the smartest quarterback I’ve ever been with. Every day with Kurt was like a PhD. I said, ‘Yeah, this kid’s special.’”

As a junior in 2023, Elgersma once again had a QB internship with the Argonauts. Miller was impressed with how Elgersma absorbed the coaching and improved over the previous 12 months. Miller predicted Elgersma would be a first-round pick in the CFL Draft.

Or …

“I said this kid’s going to have a legit chance to play Down South, as we say – meaning the NFL,” Miller said.