GREEN BAY — While the Green Bay Packers apparently made it abundantly clear to Brian Brohm that they drafted him to be a backup to new starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the former three-year starter at Louisville sure didn't sound like a guy planning to simply cede the No. 1 gig from Day 1.

"I just can't wait to get in there and compete and show them what I have," Brohm said when asked about Rodgers after the Packers took him in the second round of Saturday's NFL draft. "And we'll see what happens from there."

For the record, general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy both were steadfast in their support of Rodgers, the 2005 first-round pick who inherits the starting job from retired future Hall of Famer Brett Favre.

But they also made it clear that they were targeting Brohm in the second round and were thrilled that he lasted until No. 56, or 20 picks after the team took Kansas State wideout Jordy Nelson with their first selection of the day.

"You just never know in a draft, but we felt very fortunate that he was there then," said Thompson, who tried to trade up in the second round to get Brohm and admitted he at least considered taking Brohm at No. 36. "We feel like he adds value to our team, he'll be a good solid guy to have behind Aaron and we'll train him up. It's just like I talked to him on the phone, we'll get him ready to play, but Aaron's the guy."

Brohm was the third quarterback taken after first-rounders Matt Ryan (No. 3 to Atlanta) and Joe Flacco (No. 18 to Baltimore) and went one pick before Michigan's Chad Henne went to the Miami Dolphins.

"It was close. We liked both those guys," Thompson said. "But the way we went through the process, we had Brohm in a position where we'd take him first."

The Packers have yet to sign a veteran to back up Rodgers — Daunte Culpepper was the third experienced quarterback to visit the team, meeting with the club on Tuesday but leaving without signing a contract — and Thompson said he "certainly" thinks Brohm can be Rodgers' primary backup.

"Yeah, I think he has a shot at being that," Thompson said of Brohm, who likely would have been a first-round pick had he come out after his junior year (3,049 yards, 16 touchdowns, five interceptions in only 11 games) and saw his stock fall slightly this year despite a solid senior season (4,024 yards, 30 TDs, 12 INTs).

"He's incredibly intelligent, he's played a ton of football, he's been around football his entire life, his entire family is football coaches and things like that, so yeah, I think he does. He's been involved in this kind of system and we'll see. He'll have to earn it."

Said McCarthy: "When you go across scoring his grade — in the pocket, out of the pocket, fundamentals of throwing, his ability to slide and make throws, hot (read) throws, all those things — I thought he did everything good. He might not have been the fastest guy, he didn't have the strongest arm, (but) I thought he was accurate, I thought he was very, very consistent."

Brohm, whose father and two brothers both played at Louisville — his one brother, Jeff, spent two years in the NFL with San Francisco and was Brian's quarterbacks coach at the school — has had some injury problems, suffering a torn ACL at the end of his sophomore year, torn ligaments in his right (throwing) thumb during his junior year, undergoing surgery on the labrum in his left shoulder after his junior season and suffering a sprained ankle that kept him out of the Senior Bowl.

But he said he doesn't regret staying for his senior year.

"It was a decision I kind of made with my heart. I wanted to stay in Louisville for another year. I pursued some team goals that we obviously didn't accomplish, but I felt like I got better as a player, I matured as a player," Brohm said. "We had no clue where I was going to be picked (this year), but I'm happy with it. I think I am a better quarterback than I was a year ago. I think I'm more ready to take this step to the next level."