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With Aaron Rodgers potentially sidelined by injury, what does Jordan Love bring to the table?
During the Packers 40-33 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Aaron Rodgers suffered an injury to what announcers said was his oblique. On Monday, head coach Matt LaFleur said that if Rodgers is healthy enough to play on Sunday, then he’ll play, but the team is monitoring Rodgers for the next few days.
Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Rodgers is “feeling better” today but they will know more in the next couple of days.
He said if Rodgers is healthy enough to play Sunday, he will play.
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) November 28, 2022
This means we could possibly get what we’ve all been waiting for:
It could be Jordan Love time.
Love entered the game after Rodgers went down with injury and played … well! Love went 6-of-9 with one touchdown, and 113 passing yards. However, it was his process that was impressive, and gives hope for a QB of the future; for the Packers or possibly someone else.
What stood out the most with Jordan Love in his spot duty was his confidence in the passes he would take and make. He wasn’t second guessing himself or patting the ball, he was getting all his cleats in the ground and ripping it. On his touchdown pass to Christian Watson (he of Establish the Fun lore), he’s throwing a glance route off of play action. Watch when he goes to release the ball and how confident he is that he can take and make this throw. Then Watson does the rest.
Love also hit another pass to Watson that was really nice, a hi-lo concept vs. the Eagles cover 4 coverage. When teams don’t play the aggressive style of Quarters coverage that defenses like the 49ers do, it creates a window where a dig route can be hit, and Love hits it on time.
Love was aggressive on the hi part of the hi-lo read during his spot duty, not being afraid of throwing into tight windows. On this play, the Eagles run Cover 3, but rotate the safety down to the weakside instead of the strongside. This means the defensive back has to carry the in-breaker, but Love fits it right in to Allen Lazard. This is good QB play, and a large step in the development of Jordan Love.
His best throw of the game might’ve been one that fell incomplete, however. The Packers are in empty, with Aaron Jones split out wide and Christian Watson in the slot to the weakside of the field. The Eagles are running Quarter, Quarter, Half defense and Darius Slay is the half defender. Jones runs a go route and Watson runs an out from the slot. Slay thinks that this ball is going to the slot out, because nobody throws the go to the running back. Slay makes one small hesitation and Love rips this throw into the hole.
Not only is this a courageous throw, he also throws this with great ball placement. The safety to that half is over the top, limiting a traditional throw, so Love throws it back shoulder on a dime. Jones has gotta bring this one down.
Love’s promising play has got to be exciting for the Packers both in the short and long term window of their team. If Rodgers can’t play, then Love is more than capable of leading the offense. Getting him more reps for development could be beneficial for the Packers and Love.
Looking long term, it’s no secret that this year hasn’t played out the way Rodgers or Green Bay has wanted. If Rodgers shockingly decides to retire at the end of the season, the Packers would be a bit hamstrung.
Aaron Rodgers’ contract was structured “year to year” for retirement purposes, starting with a 1 year, $42M deal this season. If he retires after 2022, the #Packers will be left with $40.3M of dead cap, and Rodgers will be walking away from $59.5M cash.https://t.co/AyJn3ATlIq
— Spotrac (@spotrac) October 6, 2022
Having Love on the roster would ensure that they won’t need a QB and can officially reset their franchise while they try and recoup from eating all that dead cap. They would have to do some restructuring to the defense, but at least they have a QB they can work with.
However, in the event that Rodgers does in fact stay with the team, they could use Jordan Love as trade bait. Say a team like the Giants could need a QB, but are too high up in the draft to go and get one. The Packers could trade Love to a QB needy team and get more picks in the draft to help the team.
Either way, Love’s play in the final few minutes of the Eagles game is very promising both for Love and the Packers future.
