Although rumors about this latest Jets-Packers QB blockbuster not being done by the draft circulated, this will cut the cord ahead of the team’s first offseason with Jordan Love in the starter’s spot.
Talks intensified late last week, per Schefter and ESPN’s Rich Cimini, and continued into the weekend. It is safe to say the Jets will top their 2022 allotment of primetime games (one) this season. While the Packers’ total figures are to dip, Love’s effort to follow one of the game’s all-time greats will certainly generate considerable attention as well.
In January, Gutekunst deferred to Rodgers’ four MVPs when asked if the longtime starter or Love gave the 2023 team a better chance to win. Rodgers expected to be welcomed back to Green Bay, but as the offseason progressed, this relationship — which produced a 2021 fracture that included a Rodgers trade request — encountered more turbulence.
Rodgers said when the Packers traded up for Love in 2020 the prospect of him finishing his career with the Packers no longer appeared certain. The Love pick did precede back-to-back MVPs — both seasons featuring current Jets OC Nathaniel Hackett in a non-play-calling OC role — Rodgers deciding he wanted to play the 2022 season in Green Bay. But not long after that contract agreement, trade winds started to blow again.
Rodgers, 39, is coming off a down season. He finished 26th in QBR and saw his counting stats dip across the board. But the veteran passer was playing through injuries. A broken thumb and a rib malady affected Rodgers, who was also playing without Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
While second-round pick Christian Watson showed late-season promise, a Watson-Romeo Doubs–Allen Lazard troika represented a considerable step down from Rodgers’ previous receiving corps. This led to the Packers falling from back-to-back No. 1 seeds to 8-9 and out of the playoffs, inviting more questions about Rodgers’ Wisconsin future.
The Packers have Love tied to only one more year of low-wage salaries, with their latest extended QB transition mostly preventing them from building around the valuable rookie-QB contract, but the team will finally gauge the Utah State alum’s viability as a long-term starter.
The Packers must decide on Love’s fifth-year option — worth $20.27M — by May 2. Love has thrown 83 career passes. His lone start of consequence — a Nov. 2021 Arrowhead Stadium tilt — did not go well, but the Packers are believed to have seen substantial growth in 2022.
That said, the team going from Rodgers to Love invites tremendous risk. After a 6-10 starter debut in 2008, Rodgers proved the Packers right. Will Love do the same?
