With the Aaron Rodgers era officially coming to an end after serving as the team’s starting quarterback for the past 15 seasons, it is now Jordan Love’s turn to take over and finally get his chance to prove himself as a starter.
The Packers drafted Love with the 26th overall pick in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft. Many have speculated that this was the nail in the coffin of Rodgers’ relationship with the team. After never using a first-round pick to give him an offensive weapon, it allegedly was seen as a slap in the face to select the quarterback that would go on to succeed him rather than picking a running back or pass catcher.
Since joining the team, Love has played in ten games and has started in one of them. In his single career start, the Packers were defeated by the Kansas City Chiefs by a final score of 13-7. In that matchup, Love completed 19 of his 34 passing attempts for 190 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
So far in his career, he has completed 50 of his 83 passing attempts for 606 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions. While these are not the most impressive stats, it is clear that Love has done more than enough to prove that he deserves a chance to start. The Packers recently picked up his fifth-year option, costing the Packers $20.272 million fully guaranteed.
While the Packers continued their streak of not selecting a running back or wide receiver in the first round, they did make a big effort to bring in young talent to surround Love. In the second round, they selected Luke Musgrave from Oregon State. They followed this up by selecting Michigan State wide receiver Jayden Reed later on in the second round. With their next pick, they took another tight end in Tucker Kraft from North Dakota State in the third round. Later on in the fifth round, they selected Dontayvion Wicks from Virginia. Finally, in the 7th round, they picked Lew Nichols III from Central Michigan, and Grant DuBose from Charlotte. This was a great decision by the Packers’ front office as the receiver room took a big hit in the offseason. This could end up being a breakout year for Christian Watson as he is entering the year as Green Bay’s number-one receiver.
With a plethora of young weapons in pass-catching positions, this could be a year in which Love gets a feel for being a starter and begins to build chemistry with his receivers and tight ends. He has a very reliable running back tandem to take some of the weight of the offense off of his shoulders in Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon.
While he likely will not continue the elite run of Packers quarterbacks following Brett Farve and Aaron Rodgers, he has proven that he can be a reliable starter. Once he gets an opportunity to get real experience as a starter, he has the potential to continue to develop into a franchise quarterback. However, this will come with time.
