Packers and Love Looking for New Deal

News coming out of Green Bay these past few days has revolved around the potential contract extension for quarterback Jordan Love. Love truly burst onto the scene last season, leading the Packers to a postseason victory over the Dallas Cowboys before falling to the NFC champion 49ers. With other notable quarterbacks recently securing contracts, such as Jared Goff and Trevor Lawrence, it makes sense that the Packers would want to finalize this deal as soon as possible. The longer they wait, the more the price will rise, especially if someone like Tua Tagovailoa signs a massive extension. For Love, he has strong leverage to stand on after last season's campaign.

Love at First Sight:

Love was a highly touted prospect with many drawing comparisons to Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes. Coming into this past season, Love had yet to live up to those expectations in the limited playing time he had behind Aaron Rodgers. This year, however, he seemed to improve with each passing week. He finished the season with over 4,000 yards passing, 32 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. Love’s numbers were very impressive, considering it was not only his first year as a full-time starter, but his supporting cast was considered one of the weaker groups in the NFL in terms of talent. His projected number one receiver, Christian Watson, only played in 11 total games, failing to break 500 yards with 5 touchdowns. Aaron Rodgers struggled two seasons ago in his last year in Green Bay with almost the same supporting cast. For perspective, Rodgers passed for 3,700 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions (the second highest total of his career). Comparing the two may not offer much in terms of who did what, but it is interesting food for thought when trying to gauge where Love stands among the league's best.

What Could the Deal Look Like?:

When taking all the information into account, it is still difficult to estimate what the Packers and Love will agree upon. On one hand, Jordan had a tremendous season last year, but at the same time, that’s the only sample size we have for him thus far. That said, I feel as if Love will get an extension of 4+ years at the very minimum, similar to Goff and Lawrence. I don’t see the Packers breaking the AAV (average annual value) of $55 million that Lawrence and Burrow currently hold, but I do think it will be close. I could see a potential deal of 5 years for roughly $250 million with varying guarantees and incentives based on his performance.

Throughout all of this, it’s nice to see the Packers' investment pay off. They traded up for Love with hopes that he would be the successor to Aaron Rodgers, and as things stand, it seems they may have found their guy.