The Green Bay Packers aren’t quick to give up on their franchise QBs, as consecutive stints of at least 15 years for Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers clearly indicate.
However, as the team transitions to the Jordan Love era, the same kind of patience isn’t necessarily prevalent within the organization or the media. Green Bay showed slight reticence around Love’s contract this offseason, when the Packers passed on his $20 million fifth-year option. Instead, the team negotiated a one-year deal with Love, which pays him $13.5 million in 2024.
As a result, the Packers own the rights to Love’s contract for the next two seasons as he navigates his first year as a full-time starter. After a hot start, Love has struggled over the last few games. Those struggles are the basis for an argument made by Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report on Saturday, October 13, that Green Bay should consider benching Love if his difficulties persist.
[Love] was a first-round pick in 2020 with some upside, and rookie fifth-rounder Sean Clifford is the only other option on the roster right now.
That said, there’s at least an element of unknown worth exploring with Clifford, who was a consistent four-year starter at Penn State. If the Packers fall out of the playoff picture, they’d be unwise not to take an extended look at the alternative.
If the Packers don’t have more than a few wins when they leave Pittsburgh in Week 10, it might be time to think about a break for Love and an audition for his understudy.
Jordan Love Has Produced Misleading Start to NFL Career
GettyQuarterback Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers warms up prior to an NFL game against the Las Vegas Raiders in October 2023.
Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus on Friday authored a deep dive into Love’s career, during which he came to the conclusion that some of the QB’s early success has been misleading.
He looked excellent this preseason, his first as a starter. With a young receiving corps and an impressive offensive line, Love completed 63.6% of his passes and didn’t record a turnover-worthy play on 37 dropbacks. He was at least solid in all three games he featured in. The Packers must have been feeling good entering the regular season.
With a five-game regular-season sample size now in 2023, however, Love is starting to look a lot like the raw, flawed prospect we saw at Utah State. He has six turnover-worthy plays (3.1%) and seven big-time throws (4.1%). His adjusted completion rate is 63.6%, which ranks dead last in the NFL, and the Packers can’t buy a deep pass.
Monson noted that injuries to the Packers’ offensive line resulting in more pressure have impacted Love’s play, as have drops by his young wide-receiving corps. However, if Love were truly elite, he would be able to overcome those mistakes.
“These are all very valid explanations for Love’s downturn in production, but they aren’t crippling problems to this offense. A high-end quarterback should be able to overcome them,” Monson wrote. “The big problem is that Love has his own flaws right now. He simply doesn’t possess the bandwidth to make up for his teammates’ deficiencies in addition to his own.”
Aaron Rodgers Says Packers Fans Should Remain Calm Amid Jordan Love’s Growing Pains
GettyAaron Rodgers and Jordan Love take the field for an NFL game between the Green Bay Packers and Washington Commanders in 2022.
Monson stopped well short of suggesting the Packers bench Love, even if he continues to struggle through the remainder of this season.
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Love’s former mentor in Green Bay over the previous three years, shared a similar sentiment on ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show on October 10.
I think [Love has] shown a lot of things early in the season. He’s shown the ability to throw the ball downfield. He’s very athletic. I feel like he’s had a number of really nice look-offs, and just a number of plays that I think the average fan has got to be like, “Oh, this is guy is gonna be around here for awhile. This guy can really play.”
As we’ve seen … week to week the narrative can really change. It can be you’re not the guy and this is a mistake one week, and the next week you’re gonna be around for 15 years. And that’s the overreaction of our league. … [The Packers have] got a bye week coming up and then going to, I believe, [the Denver Broncos] I think after that. So a good chance, I think, to bounce back for them.
Green Bay hosts the Minnesota Vikings the Sunday after the team plays the Broncos in Denver, which is a second consecutive winnable game for the Packers coming off of their bye week.
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Packers Urged to Bench Jordan Love if Struggles Continue