SALT LAKE CITY — Jordan Love understands there will be some negative responses from Green Bay fans and people around the NFL after the Packers traded up late Thursday night to snag the former Utah State quarterback with the No. 26 pick in the 2020 NFL draft’s first round.
After all, the Packers are well-set at the quarterback position with two-time NFL MVP, Super Bowl champ and eight-time Pro Bowler Aaron Rodgers leading the Green Bay offense.
“Obviously they know what they’re doing with the Packers and (they) took a chance on me. For the most part, I’m just coming in, ready to work. Outside opinions don’t really matter to me,” Love said during a media conference call just hours after his selection.
It’s a “long-term decision,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst explained during a media conference call late Thursday.
“This was not something we set out to do,” he said. “He just happened to be a guy we liked who fell to us, and this was the best decision.”
Green Bay originally had the No. 30 selection before trading up four spots with Miami to snag Love, who will sign a reported four-year, $12.3 million contract, with $8.34 million paid out over the next two seasons, according to Spotrac.
Rodgers went through a similar situation 15 years ago, sliding down the first round of the draft before the Packers took him at No. 24 in the 2005 draft. He developed behind another superstar quarterback, Brett Favre, for three years before taking over as the Packers’ starter, and it’s been Rodgers’s team ever since.
Green Bay has reached the postseason nine times since Rodgers took over at quarterback, including winning Super Bowl XLV and advancing to the NFC conference championship game last season.
Love was the first skill position player the Packers used a first-round pick on in 15 years, since they did the same with Rodgers.
“Aaron’s been around a long time and knows what we’re playing for right now,” Gutekunst said. “We have the best quarterback in the National Football League and we plan to have him for a while competing for championships.
“I think he’ll be a pro’s pro. He’s playing for legacy-type things, historic-type stuff. I know he’s very, very motivated.”
How did the rest of the NFL world judge the move? It’s been controversial. Part of that is because the Packers are in win-now mode, with Rodgers at age 36, and some have questioned whether the Packers should have drafted another offensive weapon for Rodgers with what’s seen as a deep wide receiver class.
Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon said the decision to draft Love could be “crippling” for the Packers organization, criticizing the price Green Bay paid to select the 6-foot-4, 224-pound quarterback.
“On Thursday night, a Green Bay team that fell a win short of the Super Bowl in 2019 and is trying to refuel for another run before the current championship window slams shut essentially decided that Love was worth both a first- and a fourth-round pick,” Gagnon wrote, while noting the Packers’ need to add wide receiver weapons beyond Davante Adams. “Now, a Packers team that was quiet in free agency is suffering from a severe lack of capital entering Day 2 of a draft that is loaded with talent at the receiver position.”
“Newsflash: You have to be lucky and good to have a talent like Rodgers fall in your lap. The odds of it happening twice, and of any QB in this draft be as good as Rodgers — much less of Love being ever as good as Rodgers — are microscopic.” — CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora
USA Today’s Mike Jones said Green Bay must take advantage of its remaining picks to find value at the wide receiver and tight positions.
“The Packers obviously won’t find out just how smart of a move this Love selection was until several years from now. But this move does put more pressure on team brass for the remainder of this draft,” he wrote.
And while the similarities in Rodgers’ and Love’s draft-night stories were a topic of conversation, CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora cautioned about labeling Love the next Rodgers.
“Newsflash: You have to be lucky and good to have a talent like Rodgers fall in your lap. The odds of it happening twice, and of any QB in this draft be as good as Rodgers — much less of Love being ever as good as Rodgers — are microscopic,” La Canfora wrote.
The Ringer’s Riley McAtee said the move to draft Love puts a clock on Rodgers’s time in Green Bay.
“The Packers have some time to try to sort out all of Love’s issues. Rodgers’s contract runs through 2023, and because of his massive deal, the soonest the Packers could move on from their future Hall of Fame quarterback is 2022,” McAtee wrote. “... But just like Favre’s ultimate parting with the Packers, a divorce with Rodgers could get ugly.”
That’s not to say the selection didn’t have its supporters.
ESPN’s Rob Demovsky opined that perhaps drafting a successor could light a fire under Rodgers and help extend Love’s career.
“If he can handle sitting — and he said Thursday night that he’s ‘going to take that time to be able to learn and grow as a player’ — then it could extend Love’s career on the back end,” Demovsky wrote. “He would save the wear and tear on his body early much like Rodgers did. He not only has the chance to learn from Rodgers but should benefit from a quarterback-driven head coach in (Matt) LaFleur, much like what Rodgers had with Mike McCarthy.”
“Why not settle in with the gunslinger himself in Aaron Rodgers. He can learn so much by just watching. … I really think this is a positive thing for the Green Bay Packers moving forward.” — Steve Smith Sr.
Former Utah wide receiver Steve Smith Sr., who played 16 seasons in the NFL for Carolina and Baltimore and now works in sports broadcasting, preached patience for those questioning not just the long-term viability of the pick, but its short-term impact as well.
“They’re going to be able to give Aaron Rodgers more help,” Smith said during NFL Total Access, adding that “in the second and third round, teams are going to be wheeling and dealing to move up and get the guys that they really want.”
Smith also discussed the fact Love had three different offensive coordinators during his time in Logan, while emphasizing the quarterback will benefit from tutelage that can only be found at the pro level.
“Why not settle in with the gunslinger himself in Aaron Rodgers. He can learn so much by just watching. Aaron doesn’t have to speak with him. He can learn and absorb how he works. … I really think this is a positive thing for the Green Bay Packers moving forward,” Smith said.
Love, for his part, sounds ready to tune out the noise and start learning from a future Hall of Famer, even if it’s a process impacted right now by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“Being able to be in Green Bay and be behind Aaron Rodgers, that’s one of the guys I grew up watching, learned how to do it from him,” Love said. “I would say that this is a really good situation to be in, not being thrown out there. I’m behind one of the great quarterbacks in the league. So just being able to sit behind him and learn, what’s better than that?”