QB Jordan Love’s Packers romance is just getting started.
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; December 24, 2023; In the second quarter at Bank of America Stadium, quarterback Jordan Love (10) of the Green Bay Packers searches for a receiver against the Carolina Panthers. This opens in a new tab. Required Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Indianapolis, Indiana, February 27 By the end of the 2023 season, a lot had changed for the Green Bay Packers in a short period of time, including general manager Brian Gutekunst’s assessment of quarterback Jordan Love.
During Tuesday’s NFL Scouting Combine morning media availability, Gutekunst expressed his pride in him. “He was incredibly well rewarded for all of the hard work that he put in. Throughout his career, he has encountered various challenging circumstances. lacked opportunities in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, missing out on preseason games, among other things. However, I was thrilled for him and our football team after watching him persevere so admirably over the difficult stretch in October, lead our squad to improvement every week, and reap the benefits at the end of the campaign. Even though he performed admirably, he still has a lot ahead of him, so I’m really thrilled for him and his future.”
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Before turning in a record-breaking performance at Dallas in the wild-card triumph during his playoff debut, Love finished the season with a bang, defeating in a de facto play-in game during Week 18.
Gutekunst had another player in mind in October. Before making a decision for Green Bay at the position during the offseason, he stated that he would “need to see more.”
When it became clear that Aaron Rodgers and the Packers would part ways, Gutekunst included Love among his no-doubter picks. The offseason has begun. Love was still the number one quarterback after the trade to the New York Jets, but Gutekunst and head coach Matt LaFleur realized there was only one way to rank the 26th overall pick in the 2020 draft.
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To blossom, love needed to play.
Now that this enormous box has been checked for the upcoming season and beyond, the general manager who nearly risked everything to select Love, trade Rodgers, and establish the young player as the starter, is unable to contain his excitement.
“It’s probably the hardest position to play in all professional sports. It is an extremely difficult position to play because of everything that goes into it, the amount of work that is on one guy’s plate from before to after the snap, the amount of information he must digest in a short period of time, the leadership aspects, and the intangible aspects, according to Gutekunst. “There’s a certain degree of innate athletic ability that you have to possess, but there’s so much more than that, and sometimes I think people forget how much of it needs to be learned over time. Therefore, you never really know if a guy will be able to accomplish it at a high level or not until you have that time to try to develop him.”
Love-related judgments and checks still need to be made in Gutekunst’s future.
The Packers granted Love a modified deal to replace the fifth-year option that was available to NFL teams with first-round picks, and Love signed for just one more season (2024).
Before 2024, things won’t remain the same for the Packers. A new look is guaranteed by a significant change on the defensive side of the ball with the hiring of Jeff Hafley as defensive coordinator to replace Joe Barry. Hafley intends to switch from a 3-4 scheme to a conventional 4-3 defense.
