First in a series.
GREEN BAY — Jordan Love is writing his own story. He isn’t interested in plagiarizing Aaron Rodgers’ biography as the Green Bay Packers’ starting quarterback word-for-word.
But if his Chapter 3 ends up bearing a striking resemblance to the one Rodgers authored in 2010 — when Rodgers led the Packers to the Super Bowl XLV championship — Love certainly won’t mind.
After all, even if meant facing even more comparisons to his predecessor in the years to come, he’d have a championship and Super Bowl MVP award to point to, just like Rodgers has.
“When you talk about Aaron and what he did in his third year, I never try to compare. Because that’s so hard to do There’s so many different situations that go on,” Love said durin0-g a break in the team’s offseason program.
“But at the end of the day, I’ve been here. [I’m] going on Year 6, going on my third year playing. Everything is right there in front of us and for this team. It’s just about going out there and executing.
“But the goal is definitely a Super Bowl. That’s the mindset we have and we’re going to put in the work to be able to hopefully get there.”
Love, obviously, will be critical to turning that hope into reality. And he’ll have to make a meaningful jump in his third season as the starter to give the Packers their best shot at competing for a championship, as general manager Brian Gutekunst declared they’re ready to do.
After a torrid finish to the 2023 season, Love presided over the Packers’ three-game losing streak to close 2024 — regular-season losses to the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears (dropping the Packers to 1-5 in the NFC North) and a season-ending NFC wild card playoff loss to the eventual Super Bowl LIX-champion Philadelphia Eagles in which Love threw three interceptions.
Love’s Week 1 left knee injury and Week 8 left groin injury surely factored into his performance last season, and the team’s 33 dropped passes — tied for third-most in the 32-team NFL — didn’t help his final season stat line, either.
Just ask head coach Matt LaFleur.
“I think there’s a narrative out there for whatever reason that he wasn’t as productive as the year before,” LaFleur said. “Well, he missed significant time [with injuries] … and also — let’s be honest, we’ve talked about this — we did have a lot of drops last year.
“So, there’s other circumstances that play into it.”
Fair, but those explanations also don’t tell the full story.
To close 2023, Love completed 70.4% of his passes for 2,597 yards with 23 touchdowns and just one interception (116.5 passer rating) over the final eight regular-season games, in his near-perfect performance in an NFC wild card road win over the Dallas Cowboys, and up until throwing an interception on his final third-quarter pass in the Packers’ season-ending NFC divisional loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
In the Packers’ three straight losses to end 2024, though, Love completed only 61.3% of his throws for 466 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions (all against Philadelphia) for a passer rating of 66.9.
Love must play at a higher level than that down the stretch this season, and no one knows that better than he does.
“You’re talking about Super Bowl. That’s the goal for us,” Love said. “We talked about that last year, and that’s the same message this year. We’re trying to win a Super Bowl.
“I’m definitely trying to be that guy to be able to take this team and lead them to that.”
Here’s a closer look at the quarterback position as the Packers prepare for training camp, which kicks off with its first practice on July 23:
Depth Chart
No.
Name
Pos.
Ht.
Wt.
Age
Exp.
College
10
Jordan Love
QB
6-4
219
26
6
Utah State
2
Malik Willis
QB
6-1
225
26
4
Liberty
16
Sean Clifford
QB
6-2
218
26
2
Penn State
19
Taylor Elgersma
QB
6-5
227
23
R
Wilfrid Laurier
Burning Question | How will Love keep all his passing-game targets happy?
While the selection of Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay was the story of the offseason — after all, it’d been 23 years since the Packers had taken a wideout in Round 1 (Javon Walker) — the Packers still have a host of wide receivers and tight ends that have flashed their immense talent and potential over the last two years.
And with those players competing not only for opportunities but for contracts, the Packers top returning wide receivers (Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks) and tight ends (Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave) are all going to want their targets.
While it’s up to LaFleur and his offensive staff to conjure up ways to spread the ball around, it’ll be up to Love to read coverages and deal the ball to the open guy.
“That’s always the tricky part, trying to get everybody involved,” Love acknowledged. “But we’ve got a great group of guys. They all know what the main objective is that we’re trying to get done here. And they know they’re going to get those [opportunities] that are going to come their way.
“Some days, some guys might catch more passes than the other guys. That just might be the way it is. It’s all predicated on what the defense is doing, trying to stop our offense. I always tell guys, ‘I’m going to try to find the guy who’s open.’ They all know that.”
On the rise | Elgersma.
The Packers were the most interested of any NFL team in the Canadian import, bringing him in for one of their 30 allotted pre-draft visits and scouting him at the Senior Bowl, where Packers offensive passing-game coordinator Jason Vrable was one of the coaches, as well as two other all-star games.
Still, he’s clearly a project, as his success north of the border doesn’t necessarily portend NFL success.
Playing for Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Elgersma completed 73.5 percent of his passes for 4,011 yards with 34 touchdowns and 10 interceptions as a senior, winning the Hec Crighton Award — the Canadian equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.
The NFL is a vastly different ballgame, of course, but the coaches seem intrigued by his tools.
“He’s got a very live arm. We could see that on tape,” LaFleur said. “There’s a lot to like about him.”
Player to watch | Willis.
The Packers went 3-0 in the games in which Willis played extensively — his starts against Indianapolis and Tennessee and his second-half relief effort at Jacksonville — making Gutekunst’s decision to trade a seventh-round pick to the Titans at the end of training camp a brilliant one.
After not really getting a fair shake in Nashville, Willis was a godsend in Green Bay, completing 74.1% of his passes for 550 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions (124.8 rating).
While the Packers hope he won’t be pressed into duty like he was last year, they know they’ve got the right guy waiting in the wings if Love does go down with an injury.
Key competition | No. 3 quarterback.
While the Packers decided they weren’t comfortable with Clifford being their No. 2 last year after he held down that backup spot in 2023 as a rookie fifth-round draft pick, Clifford spent the offseason working to improve everything about his game — from his footwork to his accuracy to his in-the-pocket movements.
LaFleur didn’t really consider starting Clifford last season after Love’s knee injury, despite Willis’ limited knowledge of the playbook heading into the Week 2 matchup with the Colts. This summer will be Clifford’s opportunity to show the coaches how far he’s coming since then — and fend off Elgersma for the No. 3 job.
Bold prediction | Love will be selected to his first Pro Bowl.
Love may someday be an All-Pro or an MVP candidate, but last season, he finished 19th in passing yards (3,389), tied for 10th in touchdown passes (28), and 11th in passer rating (96.7).
Rodgers actually went to the Pro Bowl in his second year as the starter in 2009, earning the NFC’s third QBspot behind New Orleans’ Drew Brees and Minnesota’s Brett Favre.
Rodgers, who threw for 4,434 with 30 touchdowns and only seven interceptions (103.2 rating) that season, wound up starting the Pro Bowl with Brees playing in the Super Bowl and Favre opting out — back when there was a game, of course.
Next: Running backs.
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