Jordan Love had to bide his time, waited his turn, play very well, and now he has cashed in. By the end of the 2023 campaign, it was without a shadow of a doubt the Green Bay Packers felt they had their next answer at the quarterback position. And with that, they had to compensate their signal caller.
Love had a coming out party in the final eight games of last season and led the Packers, not just to the postseason, but to a road playoff win, in a hostile environment, against ‘America’s Team’ the Dallas Cowboys, 48-32. He was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL late last year.
So, on Friday night, Love and the Packers agreed to a four-year, $220 million contract extension, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jori Epstein. The deal will make Love the highest paid quarterback in NFL history. Love will also receive a $75 million signing bonus as part of the deal, the largest in NFL history. Approximately $155 million of his contract is fully guaranteed.
Earlier in the day on Friday, the Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa reportedly reached a four-year, $212.4 million extension.
Love got the contract extension he earned during that red hot late-season streak last fall. He and the Packers agreed to a deal. Love came to Organized Team Activities (OTAs) with the confidence that a deal would soon be done, but then sat out training camp practices as the extension was finalized to prevent any chance of injury.
The deal is in the rearview mirror at this point. Now the Packers can see how far Love can carry them on his shoulders.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Packers and Love have taken the road less traveled to get here. The team selected Love in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft with the 24th overall pick out of Utah State, shocking the NFL world, because they had Aaron Rodgers in his prime. Rodgers went on to win two MVPs after Love was drafted, and Love sat on ice.
Finally, the Packers traded Rodgers to the New York Jets after months of a saga that played out in the media and gave Love a shot. Love’s rookie deal was set to expire, so the Packers had to get creative on his contract, so he got a one-year extension worth up to $22.5 million and $13.5 million guaranteed. Love struggled with the pace of the game and connecting with his play makers through the first seven games of last season, then took off like a rocket. Suddenly, the light switch turned on and he looked like an emerging star and the Packers were forced to figure out his pending contract situation again.
“He had a hell of a year,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said shortly after the season. “Let’s not look past that. He really did. Just to see the growth … obviously the results speak for themselves, but the growth of him as just the commander out there, he’s an extension of us, and I thought the ownership that he showed, the leadership that he showed, was a great sign for us.”
The extension gets Love in line with the rest of the NFL’s top-end starting quarterbacks. There is some risk involved however, considering Love still relatively wet behind the ears and has just 18 career regular-season starts under his belt, but the Packers had to be thrilled about what they saw late last season.
Through seven games last season, the Packers posted a 2-5 record and Love had not played up to his capabilities. Packers’ general manager Brian Gutekunst delivered an emphatic statement saying Love had 10 games to show he could be Green Bay’s quarterback of the future.
Love was exceptional for the last half of the season. In the Packers’ final eight regular-season games he had 16 touchdowns and one interception. The Packers rallied to make the postseason and in Green Bay’s playoff win over the Cowboys, Love had a near-perfect 157.2 passer rating. The Packers lost the next week Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers but had the lead in that game until the final two minutes.
“To go through the tough stretch in October and to see him so steady through all that and just really lead our team to get better week in and week out, and to see the rewards at the end of the season, I was very excited for him and our football team,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said shortly after the season. “For as good as he played, there’s so much more in front of him and just excited for him and where he’s going.”
Love still needs to prove that it was not a fluke and follow up that great half season, but the Packers obviously are not concerned. Love played at an elite level for half of a season, and now he is being paid like an elite quarterback.
“I’m really happy for Jordan,” Packers’ president Mark Murphy said this offseason. “The way he played — and not only the level he played at, especially as the season got on — he just seemed to get more and more confident. But his leadership, we saw that throughout the offseason and certainly during the season, so I’m really, really pleased with the way he’s played, and I just think the future is really bright.”
