Jordan Love is present at training camp but not taking part in practices as he and the Packers continue to negotiate a new deal. Nothing is in place at this point, but things appear to be headed in the right direction. 
Progress is being made toward a deal being finalized, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reports. Both team and player in this situation expressed a willingness to have an agreement in place before the start of training camp. Likewise, general manager Brian Gutekunst confirmed earlier this week his confidence that talks will get over the finish line in the near future. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio also notes a deal is “pretty close” as of Thursday morning.
The one-year starter has long been expected to join the $50MM-per-year club on his next contract, one which will take the place of the band-aid deal signed last offseason. That pact replaced his fifth-year option, a move which allowed Green Bay to evaluate Love’s candidacy for a lucrative commitment as Aaron Rodgers‘ successor. After an inconsistent start to the campaign, the 2020 first-rounder delivered strong statistical showings through the divisional round of the playoffs.
Expectations are therefore high moving forward for Love as he prepares to guide a Packers offense featuring a young pass-catching corps and multiple offensive line starters attached to their rookie contracts. As things stand, running back Josh Jacobs is the only skill-position player signed to a big-money deal, but that will change once Love’s deal is in place.
The value of the latter’s pact is thought to be the largest sticking point in negotiations. Issues such as length and guarantees are important as well in any QB mega-deal, but the ones signed over the past two years will provide Green Bay with a number of blueprints to follow. Getting Love back on the field as soon as possible is, of course, another motivating factor for team and player to come to an agreement. The wait on that front may end in the near future.
Half a season of good football seems like a very shaky base on which to place a franchise-level bet.
It’s the latest fad in the NFL, overpay average QB’s top 5 money. Same can be said for the WR market as well.
To be fair, he’s likely an above-average quarterback, but it’s too early to know which direction his career will take. That’s the real dilemma.
I agree. But he’ll be paid if not $50m/season close to it w/ a very limited body of work. He was average the 1st half of the season but clearly turned it on in the 2nd half. Is that worth a $50m/season gamble?
As a Bills fan, I hope they pay Tua $60M a year! But yes, it’s a very risky investment.
I think Love will be worth it I see the talent but I also see the risk no doubt. It’s hard to argue with having Favre, Rodgers, and then a possible stud in Love. My only argument with it is the time to truly capitalize and win a Super Bowl it surely helps to have those 4 years of a rookie contract to go all in for a Super Bowl around before you have to make cuts to pay a QBs veteran salary. The 49ers have come up just short of a Super Bowl but they’ve had these great teams because Purdy doesn’t make squat. It’s about time to pay him and others that’s when it becomes extremely difficult even when youve solved the most important position on the team. A few guys like Mahomes are just so good they don’t need multiple weapons but you add 30 plus million a year into one player and top of the market for a few play makers it gets hard to build a Super Bowl winner unless you draft flawlessly. It’s a salary cap you can’t keep them all.
If your the Packers you have to structure this deal in a way that you can get out of it in two years in case he turns into Daniel Jones.
And if you’re JLove you do whatever you can to do the opposite of that in case you do become Daniel Jones.
And these 2 issues are quite possibly what is holding up a deal.
I think the best thing for both sides would be to give him a 2 year deal. That way if he’s a Daniel Jones we’re only stuck for a couple years. And for Love, if he’s as good as his agent thinks after 2 good years he could probably get around 70 million a year for 4 years. A benefit to both sides.
I continue to think people are underestimating just how great Love was down the stretch, both statistically and by eye test. Plus he did it with the youngest and least experienced supporting cast in the league, and he himself is less than a year older than Will Levis. I’d be surprised if he isn’t a top 10 quarterback going forward, barring injury.
The Packers hate from around the league is quite funny if you can get over the stupidity of it. He was THAT good. 13 games (yes he was only really BAD from week 2-6), along with everything behind the scenes, is enough for the Packers brass to know.
They’re doing QB the right way and the only thing the rest of the league can do is look on with envy. Frankly, I expect Love to be a top 5 QB this year, and for a long time to come…
He also blew out one of the best defenses on the road in the playoffs. It’s not his fault he has a small body of work. People on here are always saying QBs should sit. Well, if you sit a QB, he doesn’t have a big body of work by the time you need to decide about paying him. He couldn’t have done much more. The Packers also have one of the cleanest cap situations in football, so it’s not that hard to make this work.
It is a huge deal for a small body of work. However, the Packers dont really have a choice. Either pay him now or start all over again. This is what the market bears now, for better or worse. A team with win-now aspirations has to make this move.
This is a self-inflicted issue for the Packers since they’re the ones who drafted Love with another QB firmly established in the role. Atlanta may end up with the same problem in 2-3 years.
Agree with all comments; it’s such an unsure situation, I think Otto’s summary is spot-on; what are you going to do? You already have four years invested in the kid and the market is what it is. I will say I’m pretty confident he will have a much better career than some of the other QBs getting paid the going rate. Whether some of the others fail for either talent or situation, I would say he’s in a good spot to succeed. BUT, if, and just saying IF, he turns out to be a HoFer, the Packers MUST win more than one Super Bowl with THIS QB…
I think they will. Of course, I said the same with Rodgers. You know, if he hadn’t gone all weird after 2014, who knows..
Is this article correct? I thought that Love and the Packers signed a 1 year deal this offseason? And that he is now demanding a new contract, just a few weeks after signing a 1 year deal? I work with packers fans and I probably shouldn’t rely on people from Wisconsin for information, but here we are.
He signed a two year deal last offseason. He has a year left on that deal. So this is a good time to extend him.
A smart team will zig while everyone else is zagging.
Rather than spend $60 million on mediocre QB’s, try to copy the SF offense as much as you can (where the QB is a point guard not a superstar) and fill out the rest of the roster with elite players while constantly drafting QB’s to play under rookie deals.
Build elite defenses, O lines and WR corps and then just keep churning QB’s.
And hire offensive coaches who are creative and innovative enough to mold an offense to a QB instead of trying to shoehorn a player into their system.
There is more available QB talent available today than at any point in my memory. The number of talented QB’s is greater than the number of talented coaches who are able to put these QB’s in a position to succeed. The NFL needs to get off of the nepotism/recycle merry-go-round.