Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst. Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK

Packers GM explains moving on from Aaron Rodgers to start Jordan Love

By Zac Wassink | Last updated 5/8/23

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst has revealed more information about why the club moved on from quarterback Aaron Rodgers this offseason to start 2020 first-round draft pick Jordan Love.

"We believe in our process and in how we make decisions," Gutekunst told NBC Sports' Peter King. "You never get them all right. We like to develop quarterbacks. Part of developing quarterbacks is they gotta sit for a while, I think, and then they gotta play. Obviously, Jordan Love sat and Aaron did a great job just kinda mentoring him. But now Jordan’s ready to play. He needs to play. I think our fans kinda realize why we’re doing what we’re doing."

Love has attempted a total of 83 regular-season passes since September 2020, and it had been reported in February that the Packers would welcome Rodgers back for at least one more season "as long as he’s fully bought in."

That, however, was before Rodgers said during a March appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" that he intended to play for the New York Jets and before King wrote later that month that he believed "Gutekunst wanted an all-in Rodgers in March 2023 and knew he wouldn’t get it."

In Monday's "Football Morning in America" column, King noted that trading Rodgers to the Jets "was a must-do" move involving "a great player who’d checked out of Green Bay." Gutekunst somewhat admitted to King that the Packers are hitting a figurative reset button with Love replacing the future Hall of Famer in the lineup.

"There’s a lot of unknowns," Gutekunst acknowledged. "We’re a very young team. But I think the players, Jordan and the young guys, realize there’s gonna be more and different opportunities than they had in the past."

The nightmare scenario for Gutekunst and company is that Love fails to cement himself as Green Bay's starter for the future before the 2024 season ends as Rodgers guides the Jets to at least one Super Bowl and multiple playoff appearances while "happy" in the Big Apple.

One wonders if outsiders will ever truly know if Gutekunst wanted Rodgers under center this coming fall or if it was understood behind the scenes as far back as January that the four-time NFL Most Valuable Player had one foot out of Green Bay as he exited Lambeau Field following the Week 18 loss to the Detroit Lions.

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