When the Green Bay Packers offseason began, there were not many who believed that Jordan Love would be able to live up to the expectations set by his predecessors Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. It is incredibly difficult to find one all-time great quarterback; it is nearly impossible to have two of them back-to-back. After 30 years of Hall of Fame quarterback play in Green Bay, many believed (and still do) that there is no way the Packers could have found a third consecutive great quarterback.
And perhaps they are right. Indeed, Love has just one regular season start under his belt and it did not go very well. However, Love also played incredibly well in relief of Rodgers last year, particularly against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Throughout the NFL’s preseason, numerous Packers’ opponents walked away from joint practices and games impressed with Love’s poise, leadership, and ability. As it turns out, opposing players were not the only ones who walked away impressed. Rival general managers did too.
There is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the Packers’ offense this year. In addition to Love taking over for Rodgers, the wide receivers and tight ends are incredibly young and inexperienced. While there is optimism surrounding them, relying on rookies and second-year players at such premium skill positions is a gamble.
Regardless of this, one rival executive told Jeff Howe of The Athletic that they think the Packers “did it again” in drafting and developing Love as their next quarterback:
“Rival executives have been impressed with quarterback Jordan Love this summer. He has a strong arm and has enough offensive talent around him to play well in his first season as the starter. There’s bound to be some overall regression due to the team’s cap situation, but the Packers might have nailed another quarterback transition.”
The Packers went 6-10 in Rodgers’ first year as their starting quarterback, and due to the inexperience on offense, Love may experience a similar record. However, Rodgers played well in his first season and Love is expected to do the same.
Even if the Packers finish with a losing record, and Love plays well, it will send a message to the rest of the NFL that Green Bay will not be down for long. It also could affect the way other teams approach their own quarterback situations.
Prior to Love being drafted, many scouts said that he had the highest ceiling of all the quarterbacks in that class. Soon we will see if they, and the Packers, were right.
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