\u201cDark Side\u2019\u2019 defense that carried the Seahawks<\/a> this far, a starting safety who brings extreme leadership and smarts to the field on a weekly basis.<\/p>\nLove\u2019s assignment Sunday will be varied, and his intent will be to make life unbearable for second-year Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.<\/p>\n
Julian Love is pictured before the Seahawks\u2019 Jan. 17 playoff game against the 49ers. Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Moving from the East Coast to the Pacific Northwest was not a trip Love envisioned he would take. <\/p>\n
As it turns out, this relocation perfectly matched a player and a team, with outstanding results.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has a chip on their shoulder,\u2019\u2019 Love said. \u201cI carry a big one. I\u2019m very level-headed, kind of cool, collected. People thought I wasn\u2019t a certain type of player. A decade of my life, I\u2019ve played really good ball and when you watch me play, I put a good product on the field. I\u2019m a if-you-know-you-know type of player and I don\u2019t care if you don\u2019t.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
There have been many, many text messages saluting Love from various Giants players and people in the building who remain fond of him. <\/p>\n
That is a long list. <\/p>\n
Players often come and go without leaving an indelible impression; he was an exception.<\/p>\n
Love arrived in 2019 as a fourth-round pick from Notre Dame and did not establish a full-time role in his first three seasons. <\/p>\n
Julian Love is pictured during the Giants\u2019 2022 game against the Vikings. AP<\/p>\n
He played some safety, some nickel corner. <\/p>\n
In 2022, defensive coordinator Wink Martindale appreciated Love\u2019s versatility and made him a regular starter for the first time in his career. <\/p>\n
The Giants made the playoffs, and it felt as if Love and Xavier McKinney would be their safety tandem for several more years.<\/p>\n
At the bye week in 2022, the Giants offered Love a three-year, $22.5 million extension, with $10 million in guaranteed money. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Love was thinking more along the lines of $10 million a year and declined the offer. <\/p>\n
It was unfortunate for him that the safety market went in the tank that year. <\/p>\n
After the season, the best he could find was a two-year, $12 million deal from the Seahawks with $6 million in guaranteed money \u2014 far below the Giants\u2019 bye week offer.<\/p>\n
Love\u2019s representation took the Seattle offer back to the Giants to see if they would match it. <\/p>\n
By then, the Giants had moved on, as they were still under the impression Love was seeking $10 million per year.<\/p>\n
Julian Love runs with the ball after recovering it during the Giants\u2019 October 2022 game against the Ravens. Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cAt one point, there were extension talks, the values did not align,\u2019\u2019 Love said. \u201cI saw myself in a tier slightly above where they had me. It was kind of just a betting-on-yourself type of thing. I have a lot of love for people in that organization, Mr. [John] Mara \u2026 so a lot of love and appreciation. But I love where I\u2019m at.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Why not? <\/p>\n
Love and wife Julia welcomed a son, Noah, during their time in Seattle, and they are expecting their second child.<\/p>\n
Love grew up outside of Chicago and still thinks of himself as an East Coast guy.<\/p>\n
Julian Love celebrates with his son, Noah, after the Seahawks won the NFC Championship game Jan. 25. Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love New York, my wife and I, and we love New Jersey,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cWe loved it, the people, the food, it had a little bit of a grit to it that we got a little accustomed to, like Chicago. In terms of life, everything, going out to Seattle aligned for us. Seattle is beautiful, it\u2019s slower, and the fans are so good.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Love, 27, endured an injury-filled 2025 season, starting only eight games because of a hamstring issue.<\/p>\n
He came back for the final four regular-season games and both playoff games.<\/p>\n
Love said he speaks often with defensive lineman Leonard Williams about their shared time and losing with the Giants and now their shared success with the Seahawks. <\/p>\n
They have been together for the past seven years. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo behind the scenes with Big Blue\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Giants by Paul Schwartz, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
In their first three seasons together, the Giants went 4-12, 6-10 and 4-13. <\/p>\n
Love finally experienced some winning in 2022 when the Giants went 9-7-1 and won a playoff game. <\/p>\n
Love with the Seahawks went 9-8 in 2023, then 10-7 in 2024 with first-year head coach Mike Macdonald and soared to 14-3 in 2025, with two more playoff victories to catapult them into the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
The Giants went 7-27 the past two seasons, leading to the firing of Brian Daboll and the hiring of John Harbaugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been the tale of two cities, for sure, for me,\u2019\u2019 Love said. \u201cI don\u2019t know, it\u2019s tough. I think that\u2019s the appreciation that me and Leo kind of have is that we know what it\u2019s been like. It\u2019s tough, it affects your mentality, it affects maybe your personal life outside the game, losing, especially if you\u2019re a competitor. Yeah, I\u2019m grateful.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE, Calif. \u2014 He did not know if he would end his NFL career where he began…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[7,519,1329,1917,56,2321,2469,6,261,9,505,41484],"class_list":{"0":"post-734840","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-giants","10":"tag-julian-love","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-giants","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkgiants","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-seattle-seahawks","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-super-bowl","19":"tag-super-bowl-2026"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116027252161687303","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}