The next domino has fallen in regard to quarterback contracts. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Packers have reached an agreement extending quarterback Jordan Love on a four-year, $220MM deal. The contract makes Love tied for the highest annual average salary in NFL history.
The Packers quarterback is set to receive an NFL-record $75MM signing bonus. Jared Goff‘s signing bonus this year of $73MM is the next-closest such figure. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Love’s new contract includes $155MM in new guarantees. Love will collect $79MM in the deal’s first year, per NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero, who adds he will see $175MM over the contract’s first three years. That betters Goff’s three-year total by $10MM.
This wraps a pivotal day for NFL contracts, with Love’s extension coming hours after the Dolphins gave Tua Tagovailoa a four-year, $212.4MM deal. Unlike Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence over the past year, Tagovailoa and Love agreed to four-year contracts. This will put the 2020 draftees in position to potentially cash in on third NFL deals earlier than the Chargers, Bengals and Jaguars passers, who agreed to five-year deals. After a report Friday afternoon indicated contract structure was holding up this agreement, the parties hammered out a deal that will tie Love to Green Bay through the 2028 season.
Love’s path to his big payday is one not often seen in the NFL. After being the fourth quarterback taken in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, Love was the only one of the four passers to not start at least half the season as a rookie. In fact, Love was the only first-round pick in that year to not even appear in a game his rookie season. He fell victim that year to the Packers’ notorious strategy of drafting and stashing a quarterback talent while their long-time veteran finishes out his time in Green Bay.
After redshirting his rookie year, Love made his first career start in 2021, replacing a COVID-19-positive Aaron Rodgers. He delivered a middling performance in a loss to the Chiefs and appeared in mostly garbage-time situations for nine other games in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, after Rodgers forced a trade to the Jets, Love finally was given an opportunity to prepare for the season as a starter. With ten game appearances and only one start under his belt, Love took over the offense, starting all 17 games last year. In his first season as the starter under center, Love went 9-8 in the regular season, completing 64.2 percent of his passes for 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.
Green Bay’s 9-8 record under Love was good enough to earn them a playoff spot as the No. 7 seed, setting them up for a trip to the No. 2-seeded Cowboys in Super Wild Card weekend. Love played lights out, knocking out Dallas before going toe-to-toe and losing a three-point contest to the top-seeded 49ers.
That is the story of Love’s career: the lone season as a starter in the NFL. That was apparently enough for Green Bay to tie him with Burrow and Lawrence as the highest-paid players in NFL history. Burrow and Lawrence both are making $55MM per year on five-year contracts, so technically they are in line to receive more money than Love, but the Packers passer’s $220MM in four years matches them in annual value.
While this level of commitment may seem excessive for an 18-game starting sample (plus two postseason starts), with a contract year on the horizon, it would have been risky to allow Love to test free agency or potentially improve his bargaining position. The team is confident enough in Love’s potential and happy enough with Love’s production, that they deemed him worth what Lawrence was making, at least.
Both sides wanted this deal done by training camp, though it took a few extra days. As negotiations with the Packers had been failing, Love was staging a hold-in, attending training camp to avoid fines but participating minimally, if at all. After finally putting pen to paper, Love should be suited up for the team’s next training camp session.
The most important remaining ongoing contract negotiation is that of Cowboys passer Dak Prescott. Currently ranking 14th in average annual salary, Prescott’s regular-season success should set him up for a big payday, once he comes to terms with Dallas. The Tagovailoa and Love accords being completed will help set the table for Prescott, who possesses unique leverage in his latest Cowboys negotiations.
The Packers, though, have checked that item off the to-do list. Since trading for Brett Favre in 1992, watching him reign until 2007, letting 2005 first-round pick Rodgers take over in 2008 and reign until 2022, the Packers have enjoyed longevity at the quarterback position for 32 years. The question facing Love was whether or not he would allow Green Bay to continue that trend. Love will be 30 years old the next time he gets a chance to test free agency; that is, if the Packers don’t decide to push their longevity trend even further.
That’s a lot of cheddar!
Insane.
Absolutely insane.
More like asinine.lol
Honestly, I think that this has the potential to be a bad deal in terms of contract length. If they really think he is the guy they should lock him in long term. A 4 year deal means in 2-3 years all the media focus will be on an extension. Look at the Dak deal he’s been on as an example of that. The way things are going in 2-3 years what they will have to pay Love will be a lot more than if they signed a 6-8 year deal now.
Holy moley that’s a lot of money for 6 really good games of football. I mean it makes more sense than Tua’s deal but yikes.
10 really good games and a great playoff game.
He only had 6 games where he threw 3 or more touchdowns including the playoff win. Like he played well but 250 yards and 2 TDs even if it’s really efficient isn’t what I would call really good or great performances and certainly don’t justify this deal.
He was second in the league in passing touchdowns last year. The last ten games of the year he had 21 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.
You watched 2 years of Kenny Pickett and yet still somehow came to the conclusion that Love isn’t really good?
Sheesh. I’ll bet watching Pickett flounder is one of the reasons they decided to not dottle around and just pay the man…
Not a Steelers fan or ever watch their games.
Lot of questions given your avatar, but either way that doesn’t make your take any less ridiculous.
He was the only qb in nfl to do that for 6 games. No other qb had 6 games or more of 3 plus tds. So you picked out the stat he was the leader of in the nfl.
Playoff winner because Dak threw INTs. Just saying
Love was 16-21 with three touchdowns and no interceptions. That certainly had something to do with it.
That game was as much as Dallas losing it as GB won it. Love did play well, don’t get me wrong. But they were able to run the ball too which helps. GB also had SF on the ropes in their playoff game, but they disappeared in the 4thQ. That pretty much summed up where GB is/was, a very good team but didn’t have the killer instinct for the knockout on the road against a SB level team. Watching SF struggle against DET and GB was the main reason I took KC in the SB. Maybe GB takes the next step this season season, they had a very deep draft. If they can improve the WR/TE positions they will be a tough out. But the pressure is on Love for 17 games, not 8, to produce. The NFC isn’t as strong as the AFC so will be fun to watch.
It was the cowboys… everybody beats the cowboys
go pirates
and steelers
penguins too
Less years with high AAV will be the norm for QBs going forward. Also is this deal added on to his current year or does this replace that?
BWAHAHAHA!!
And it’s official, ownership of the bears is STILL guaranteed in the signing bonus.
I know it’s a lot of money for a small body of work, but he played at an MVP level with a baby supporting cast after turning 25. Stats, eye test. The Packers have a squeaky clean cap situation. I think this deal will look just fine.
Biggest contract ever given to a qb. This is about as bad as when the giants paid Danny Dimes
So based on your analysis, the Eagles should have given a massive record setting contract to Carson Wentz? Or the 49ers to Kapernick? Or the Cardinals to Murray? They all had one near MVP season. How did their contracts work out?
The QB market is out of control and these teams paying $60mm AAV will regret it when they don’t have money to put quality players around these QB’s.
The Eagles did give Wentz a big contract, they just got lucky Indy was willing to trade for him based on one year of success.
Wentz and Kaepernick had stacked offenses around them. Love had his season with an extremely inexperienced group around him, which makes me more optimistic and also makes the cap situation much easier. All the Green Bay receivers and tight ends combined are making like $11 million this year.
GAH DAMN MONEY SHOWERRRRRR
“Victim”?
If he had started right out of the gate what would he have signed for?
I bet less.
Overpay for an overrated QB. 7 games does not make a career…Packers will regret this before too long
While I agree it’s a bad deal. Where did you come up with 7 games? He showed he belonged in the playoffs. Awesome against the cowgirls, and while mediocre against the niners they were in a position to win.
Triggered Vikings, Lions and Bears fans unite! Jordan Love will be torching your teams for the next several years. Buckle up.
Hope it turns out well.
So a guy who has had 8-10 good games in the NFL just pulled in 55 million a year? What’s the guy who has been nothing but consistent for the last year and a half with 2 NFC championship game and a Super Bowl appearance going to get????
Only the top players should be moving the needle on salaries. Not the guy ranked between 9-15 at his position.
Well every expert has love in top 8 in nfl. It is all about when you sign. The Packers made 400 million profit last year. Money is nothing
He still shouldn’t be moving the needle at 8. Mahomes, Allen, Lamar….they should be moving the needle. Now that the Love and Tua deals are out there, Brock Purdy and Dak Prescott are going to be more than that.
Quarterback salary cap talks are going to intensify shortly.
Go look at Mahomes, Allen, and Jackson’s rookie season numbers if you want to compare Love to them. If you are bothered by this you’d be having a heart attack if he was given this deal with Allen’s rookie numbers. Let’s also not forget Love has a very very young skill player group especially at WR and TE.
Love was impressive, but you’ll need at least a full season’s worth of work to convince people that you’re here to stay. Any argument otherwise forgets the potential for regression or injury that should be noted for its effervescent in the NFL.
The problem is the reality of when they moved on from Rodgers didn’t allow them more time. If they started him a year or two earlier they get more time to evaluate his work on the field. It’s the trade off for sitting guys multiple years.
While you have a point regarding the timing, I’d argue that it was poor planning on Green Bay’s part and not Rodgers who held them hostage. After all, it’s the team that decides who plays and who doesn’t at the end of the day, and the team who picks its players. In this specific case, they did it wrong on both counts while evaluating their two options: The first strategy that they messed up was the “playing Rodgers” approach, which they screwed up by not committing at all to actually trying to add to a playoff roster while he started. The second approach that they screwed up was the playing for the future approach for Love, which they messed up by playing Rodgers and not either 1) trading/cutting Rodgers in either of those two years and signing a bridge starter who was worse to net them good picks, or 2) actually playing Love himself.
I actually think that the first approach was the better one. As nice as it is to have a promising future quarterback, the Packers had a really good chance to win two Superbowls in those two MVP seasons from Rodgers. This was done despite the blatant holes at certain roster positions (particularly wide receiver after Adams). Even with Love picked, the rest of that first draft was a disaster. Even with that draft being a disaster, the Packers missed or ignored every talented free agent that came up in the offseason. If you play the elite veteran, you need to try to win. The other reason that I liked this approach better is that it’s really obvious that Love learned a lot by observing Rodgers. His play style, right down to his physical movements passing, look exactly like him at times. This is quite rare, that a quarterback actually learns that much from not playing. Rodgers, for his part, is another member of that rare club-not just as a sitter, but as someone who learned from his predecessor despite precedent. The little hop-jump throw that he did sometimes reminds me personally of one of Favre’s moves, and I still think that Rodgers’ penchant for avoiding turnovers comes from observing Favre commit so many. I think that a lot of that tradition continues in Love, and it wouldn’t have happened without sitting.
That doesn’t mean that the Packers planned that, though-if they had, I think that they’d have been much more prepared to win with Rodgers (the whole not-committing thing is pretty stupid when you go to the NFC Championship anyway and pick in the late twenties, and it’s not like it was a shock that you’d be picking in that range with Rodgers) and win the championships while training Love. They would have been better prepared for Adams wanting out by having had a receiver or two in the stable to take over for him (especially because their plan at TE was a bottom if the roster one year wonder that Rodgers connected with for one good year of work, and their next leading receiver after Adams the year before was a running back), and they would have had a better plan for Bakhtiari’s losing his effectiveness. Most importantly, if they weren’t planning on competing (and then ultimately doing it badly) and instead wanted to groom a future starter, they would have not offered Rodgers that extension to begin with. It was just poorly planned in every aspect, from start to finish, no matter what angle it is viewed from.
I actually think that LaFleur is a good coach, and he’s ultimately helped a lot in covering up that offensive line deficiency with a creative run-pass scheme. Love is really bailing them out, though, by being good, and that helps cover up the poor planning on the part of both Thompson and Gutekunst’s front offices. So, in conclusion to this novel, I’d say that this is the reason that I can’t blame Rodgers, Adams, Bakhtiari, or D. Smith for any of their frustrations with the team in that time, and why I hedge my praise of Love with a couched hesitancy to endorse the front office. They may be making understandable moves at the moment, but they inexplicably sabotaged themselves at seemingly every turn in getting to this point. Love is helping people forget, which is good, but I think that people should remember how close the Packers were to actually winning two rings in the final years of Rodgers’ career there-and in the beginning of Love’s.
Gotta keep the QB happy, they always get paid no matter what. Can’t be mad at a player for accepting, be mad at your team for offering.
They should have gotten rid of Rodgers sooner since they never capitalized on Love’s rookie contract.
I don’t know if Love would have been this good if they’d made the transition two years earlier or whatever, but this is part of why I’ve criticized the Penix selection. He *might* turn out to be so good that you don’t mind sitting him for two or three years and wasting most of his cheap rookie years, but it’s the sort of move that kind of only works out if he turns out to be *really* good. So far, Love is looking *really* good, and he has to for the Love selection to not look wonky. (I still wonder if they might have won another ring with Rodgers if they had taken Higgins or Pittman instead, even if they’re obviously glad to have Love now.)
Of course, the funny part of that comparison is that Love is only like a year and a half older than Penix.
They squandered Rodgers’ final two years, so maybe so, but if we’re taking “should have”, the Packers should have added more starting talent those two years to seriously compete to win the Super Bowl. Instead, they just told their prior starters to just play better and left it to chance.
Luckily for them, Love has turned well so far, but this has always been the Packets’ mindset under Thompson and Gutekunst: don’t win now, be good later. They picked late anyway; they may as well have had a pair of rings to show for it. Some teams, when they get close enough to smell it, add pieces. The Packers picked for depth. So, yes, if their plan was to just play out the end if Rodgers’ career to use him as an overpriced bridge in the middle of a competitive window, then sure, they may as well have eaten that enormous cap charge and let him go. Or, like any other good team, they could have drafted an impact starter, or made a serious push for a free agent instead of watching them sign with competitors. They didn’t.
So, it’s great that Love looks good, and I agree that he does seem to have a bright future, but the point of the game is to win championships, and the Packers squandered two great chances to get here. It’s not the perfect transition that people paint it to be.
That’s alota money for 1 elite half season.
Yikes, MASSIVE overpay for a small sample size of success. GB is gonna be in cap HELL. No chance that 7 good games gets you more than Mahomes. WOW
Mediocre QB getting record deals. NFL is broken
that will buy a lot of tickets to Egypt
Maybe enough to pay minicamp fines…
Very stupid contract!!!
Love got $155MM in guarantees while Lord Favre earned $141MM for his entire career.
No wonder The Gunslinger had to turn to the Mississippi State Welfare Funds in his retirement.
Sit behind Rodgers for 4 years (?) and get paid like he’s Joe f’n Montana suddenly. I give up
Ok, so Mahomes is worth what?…..$100/M per year? This whole QB contract situation is out of control. A bunch of mediocre, never won anything QB’s making way too much. Yeah yeah, this is the “market”. Stupid
What a joke
1 good year.
The owners need to find a way to curb these contracts. Not that Im saying QBs are not worth it – but giving 1 player like 20 percent if your cap in a league that carries 53 men, AND is known for violence and injuries is just crazy.
These late contracts are virtually guaranteeing future irresponsibility with any QB who is decent.
And btw – I suspect the NFLPA might actually want to support that idea. Look what WRs are getting now. More money for other players, is good for the league.
The NBA has max contracts and those are tied to a cap.
You cant even blame GMs – they need to prove themselves every year. One bad year from a GM or coach and they could be out of a job.
Its not their money, but they also may not be able to wait to find another QB. For the GM, paying the player might keep their job safe for a minute.
If it blows up? So what? The GM or coach wont be around and its not his money.
This isn’t a Jordan Love bash – I like him just fine. He just hasn’t done enough to earn this contract.
Owners need to help themselves save themselves.
I would much rather have a system where teams can pay more to keep good teams together. As opposed to working around 1 gigantic contract.
Maybe a system that also for max contracts, but also allows a team to exceed the cap slightly but only with contracts that are somehow tied to drafting them.
If I draft X player – and I resign him, then maybe only a certain percentage counts against the cap.
If I sign a free agent, then its all normal cap hits.
Idk, just spitballing here.
While I agree with everything you said, the problem would be once the owners put their foot down and say we need a QB salary cap, or try and restrict the amount they are paid the Union will run to the courts and yell ‘Collusion’! And either the NFL will lose in courts or the owners will cave in.
In reality nothing will stop this madness until we get some common sense in these GMs and Owners who realize you can’t win with one player making up 25% of your cap.
For example, what will happen when the Cowboys pay top of the market value for Prescott $60mm per year, Lamb $30mm per year and Parsons $30mm per year for a total cap hit of $120mm. How are you going to field a competitive team of 50 players, 10-15 practice squad players, unknown amount of players on IR and those on a ‘Dead Cap’ hit with only $120 – $130mm? The answer? You’re not. Once that happens you better hope none of those 3 players either, get hurt or have their production fall off.
I mean, yeah. That’s exactly what ai said.
But, the union may even have some interest in a new structure if it means more money for players overall.
And that is all negotiable in a potential new union contract.
Agreed…and exactly who blocks for downfield, or assists in a tackle….players schumcks) on 1 year contracts making league average who worry about getting hurt and making even less the next year at their positions while they watch Prescott and Lamb and Parsons buy $1000 bottles of champagne over and over again at the strip clubs…..
Thing is, when you say things like that, people accuse you of siding with billionaires. Nevermind the fact that these deals push out other players and create a massive disparity in salaries by position (the running back contract crisis did not come out of thin air-people who advocate for better running back salaries don’t consider that the pie is the same, others are taking more and leaving less), of course. This isn’t a billionaire versus millionaire issue-it’s a millionaire versus Millionaire issue. The owners are paying the total no matter who gets it-it’s the non-quarterbacks, especially running backs, off-ball linebackers, and other less desirables-who feel the squeeze.
These QBs are getting a pittance compared to what Ohtani is getting from the Dodgers and that guy doesn’t have to worry about some angry 300 pound player trying to tear his head off.
And not a single one of these QBs can hit a 100MPH fastball, while also throwing one 150 times a year. Your point?
Ohtani has not pitched since he had the elbow surgery. He is basically getting paid that much to be a DH.
And he’s the best DH. It’s not like he’s never pitching again, and when he does he’s top5…
He is 30yrs old and it is likely he won’t pitch again as he will be 31.
Yeah because pitchers don’t go past 30 right? Congrats! Dumbest comment of the year goes to you!
lol okay, I know you are just a troll.
You know Ohtani is the only pitcher and every day player. Pitchers get 5 days rest until they have to play again…he does not.
Not a troll. Just smarter than someone who thinks the greatest player of the last, idk, 75 years in their respective sport is overpaid.
Kudos to him for getting it. He has a lot to live up to. Not sure if he will or not.
Wow…glad your not my GM…..you bet your ass you hope he lives up to it….that’s a lot of $$$ for hopes and dreams and 1 years worth of performance…..will he consistently play up to last years performance or wither when the talent around him isn’t up to the task……what happened to being rewarded for consistent year in and year out performance…..
Don’t let these facts distract you from another fact: he’ll get paid whether he does or not
Worse than Tuas deal
It’s crazy the amount of “bad contract” comments in here. Love has started one year obviously, but they have had him in the building for 4 years. They drafted him, developed him and he nearly had them in the NFC championship game. This is what good teams do. Plus this contract will be a bargain in 2-3 years. It floors me how so many people every season get up in arms about these new deals.
“Notorious strategy” has worked for the Pack for 30+ years.
So so dumb!!!
They’ll regret this one.
The copium from the defenders of this contract is unreal LOL
I may be alone on this one but all I take from these latest QB contracts is how it impacts Mr Irrelevant … more so if SF wins the SB
*grabs popcorn*
trash horibble i am puking
anyways, this deal sucks