Packers’ Jordan Love shows growth as a substitute for Aaron Rodgers – Green Bay Packers Blog

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Most NFL players don’t like to play the “what if” game. Because Jordan loveIt’s the only game he can play right now.

In his third year as midfielder Aaron Rodgers‘ backup with Green Bay PackersLove believes you’re different.

A different player than when he came here as a first pick in 2020 and didn’t get a full rookie pre-season because of the pandemic.

It’s different from when he struggled on his first and only NFL start last season at Kansas City.

And different since late summer, when he started showing signs of his potential.

Yet here is the 24-year-old reeling in a whirlpool of unknowns that even he admits he thinks about from time to time.

What if Rodgers decides to play for another year?

“Who knows?” Love said recently.

Two years?

“We’ll see,” he said.

Both scenarios could mean Love never becomes the Packers’ next quarterback and ends up playing somewhere else.

“It’s a possibility,” he said.

So far, Love has played a backup role in the same way Rodgers did in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Brett Favre. Rodgers never had to say what he would do if Favre returned to the Packers in 2008 because Favre was traded to New York Jets. Maybe he’ll ask for a trade.

Love is not ready to say whether he will or not, but he is open to the possibility.

“Let’s see,” he said again. “Obviously I will be in the fourth year of my contract, and the team has the potential to welcome my fifth year. They really decide what moves they want to make, what they want to do with the future.”

If the Packers believe they need to see more of Love in the action of the regular seasonal game, then Sunday Win overtime 31-28 via dalas cowboy delayed any chance of that, as it raised their playoff kick hopes. With a score of 4-6 entering Thursday night’s match with Tennessee Giants (8:15 p.m. ET, Main Video), their five-match unbeaten run is over and there’s a sense of rejuvenation.

The Packers are still at full force, but if at some point they are knocked out of the knockout stages before the final week of the season, a case can be made to start love – especially if they aren’t sure whether to opt for a fifth-year option on his contract for the 2024 season. They must make that decision by the first week of May 2023.

“I think we see it every day, so we have a pretty good sign,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur recently said when asked what he thinks they have in Love. “There’s nothing like going into the game and getting those live reps, but he continues to show improvement on a daily basis.”

Love had more time in practice later than most backups as Rodgers spent many Wednesdays on the sidelines resting and treating his injured right thumb. Rodgers usually stands behind the group chat and, to keep the game plan in place, broadcasts plays to Love, who will return to scouting duties for the remainder of the week as Rodgers practices.

“I would still call plays in group chat,” Love said. “I was still running the show while I was there.”

When Love ran the show last season in his two extended appearances – the match against the Captain that Rodgers missed because of COVID-19 and the second half of the pointless season finale with the Lions – that’s not cool.

He completed 29 of 51 324-yard passes with two touchdowns and three interceptions in two defeats, all of which struggled against lightning and pressure. He showed some improvement in training camp and pre-season this past summer.

His ability to handle lightning and pressure is where Love believes he has improved the most.

“I think I will be better,” he said. “Protections are getting a little easier — being able to make those changes, being able to see it faster, and helping us get the right protection in place.

“That’s happening faster, and pre-snap recognition, I think it’s getting easier, defensive recognition, coverage recognition and just a sense of what could open. before snapping, better than what I did before.”

Some, like one of his old college teammates, even think Love is ready to begin right now — maybe not for the Packers, but somewhere.

“It’s hard when you have the greatest of all time right next to you,” said the safety/special team ace. Dallin Leavitt, who played two years at Wyoming with Love. “But I definitely think he’s a starter in the NFL.”

During his senior season at Wyoming in 2017, Leavitt thought Love was ready to start early in the season, but he started as a backup for Kent Myers.

“Honestly, I don’t really like our midfield, and I think, we have to play a young lad,” Leavitt said this week. “Get something new, get someone out there, who will go out there and throw it away. I think it was his first game against UNLV, Jordan put 50 points on them. I was blown away.”

Before signing with the Packers in July, Leavitt hadn’t seen Love nearby since that 2017 season, which was Love’s red-shirt freshman season.

“Young Jordan is obviously really impressive. Leavitt said: “Now in [the NFL] a little bit and seeing a lot of really good midfielders, I’m really impressed with him. It’s different when you play in games with game planning and decision making, but his ability to sense the routes and sense openings in the holes of the defense is really impressive.”

Love said: “That was a great thing for him to say. It just shows that he respects me and the way I work, but I believe it.”