Getty Aaron Rodgers #12 of the Green Bay Packers and Jordan Love #10 participate in work outs during training camp at Ray Nitschke Field on August 17, 2020 in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin.
Aaron Rodgers’ strong start to the 2020 NFL season for the Green Bay Packers has done away with most discussions about first-round pick Jordan Love, but success hasn’t stopped the veteran quarterback from embracing his mentorship role with the rookie.
During his weekly Tuesday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers was asked about Love and how he has been progressing during the first five weeks of his rookie season and ended up talking about how he used the Packers’ 42-21 win over the Detroit Lions in their home opener as a motivator for Love moving forward.
Here’s what Rodgers said about his conversation with Love after Week 2 win over the Lions:
“I talked to Jordan after the second week, and I won’t get into exactly what we said, but it was after the game and was kind of feeling the environment around the locker room after a win and just a special energy that’s in there, and just reminded him to soak it all up,” Rodgers told McAfee during Tuesday’s show. “Because those are the moments that really make you feel great about what you’re doing, because that’s the culmination of a week of preparation and the process. So that’s the fun part to think about, to start to daydream about, when one day it’s going to be your opportunity to do that. He’s been doing a good job.”
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Rodgers: Love Doing ‘Really Well’ for Packers
Rodgers was never going to come out bad-mouthing a rookie teammate even if he secretly despised the guy, but the way in which he talks about Love should be encouraging for any Packers fans who remember the sometimes contentious relationship between Rodgers and Brett Favre.
“He’s doing well, he’s doing really well,” Rodgers said Tuesday when asked about Love. “This is a good time for him to learn, to see what it looks like, to see what the weeks of preparation look like and just kind of soak it all up. I obviously was in his shoes a long time ago. This is the time I really feel like you start settling in. It’s different cause we got a preseason and I got to play in the preseason, and you kind of got to get your feet wet a little bit. But once the season starts, you settle into being … a backup and going through the process and figuring out, for your own preparation, what it looks like listening, watching the way the week unfolds, seeing how the starter goes about his business. It’s a good learning time for it, and he’s enjoying it. He’s opening up more personality-wise and it’s been fun.”
Love Has Been Inactive Every Game in 2020
Love may have been the talk of the town during the spring, but the first-round rookie quarterback is lucky if the TV broadcast camera passes over him more than once per game. The No. 26 overall pick has yet to even be declared active through five games of his first NFL season — and, despite offseason fervor, none of that is unexpected.
The Packers’ depth at quarterback is currently a little underappreciated. While the spotlight is and should be on Rodgers until the moment he is finished in Green Bay, the Packers have also professed their faith in backup Tim Boyle as someone they trust to win games as a starting quarterback if necessary. He gives them the luxury of being able to take Love’s development at their own pace, whereas a team like the Philadelphia Eagles would likely have no better choice than second-rounder Jalen Hurts if something happened to starter Carson Wentz.
As things are now, the next interesting point in Love’s development would seem to be how the team will approach his usage in his second season. Boyle is a favorable option now, but keeping a prized rookie as the third-string quarterback for two consecutive seasons seems unlikely. Even if Rodgers doesn’t miss a game and Love takes on the role of endgame kneel-downs for 2021, it would say far more about his progress than if they held onto Boyle for another year.
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