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Report: Scouts Think Packers' Jordan Love Should Sit 2-3 Years Before Starting
May 6, 2020
Nobody expects Jordan Love to immediately supplant Aaron Rodgers as the Green Bay Packers' starting quarterback, and it could be multiple seasons before the Utah State star bears any tangible fruit for the team.
The MMQB's Albert Breer wrote Wednesday that Love might have been pushed into the starting role earlier with another franchise but that the Packers can afford to be more gradual with his development:
"If you were, say, the Dolphins or Chargers, it was probably unrealistic to think that Love wouldn't be your starter by, at the latest, the start of the 2021 season—there's really only been one first-round quarterback over the last decade (Johnny Manziel) who hasn't been entrenched as his team's starter by the start of Year 2. And that means you're probably throwing Love into the fire before he's ready; Most scouts I talked to believed Love was raw to the point where two or three years of runway to becoming a starter would be beneficial."
The Cincinnati Bengals sat Carson Palmer down for the entirety of his rookie season, while Patrick Mahomes only saw action in the final week of his rookie year with the Kansas City Chiefs. Rodgers was Brett Favre's understudy for three years.
They're the exceptions to the rule.
Generally, rookie QBs overtake the incumbent at some point in the regular season, if they weren't already named the Week 1 starter. Even Eli Manning couldn't fend off Daniel Jones for more than two weeks before the New York Giants made a change.
The Packers are clearly looking to repeat the approach they used with Rodgers' gradual ascension, and it's safe to assume that barring injury, Love will be holding a clipboard for most or all of the 2020 season.
However, fans shouldn't be surprised if Love replaces Rodgers before the eight-time Pro Bowler sees out the duration of his current contract, which runs through 2023.
When the Packers selected Rodgers, Favre's future had been a long-running storyline. Rather than waiting for the Hall of Famer to walk away, it made sense to be proactive in finding a possible successor.
The same kind of speculation doesn't hover around Rodgers, and some have already posited the selection of Love represented a change of direction for Green Bay.
Both The Athletic's Bob McGinn and ESPN's Rob Demovsky wrote that head coach Matt LaFleur might be attempting to make the Packers offense a little less Rodgers-centric.
It's entirely possible Love gets the two to three years the scouts believe he needs to truly blossom in the NFL. Depending on how the dynamic between Rodgers and LaFleur evolves, that timeline might be a tad optimistic in terms of when Love becomes the No. 1 guy in Green Bay.