If I Were Jordan Love, I'd Demand Packers Trade Me
Analysis 12/19/22
The Green Bay Packers play the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night, and if I'm Jordan Love, standing on the sideline and watching Aaron Rodgers take all the snaps, I'm wondering why I am not in the game.
The Packers are 5-8. They're not going to make the playoffs. Rodgers hasn't been healthy most of the season. If I'm Love, I'm simply wondering, "When am I going to get my opportunity?" And I'm going to call my agent at the end of the season and demand a trade.
Reportedly, he's already noodling on that idea, but I'll get to that later.
If I'm Love, I'm thinking, "I've been in the league three years. I've only thrown the ball 80 times in three seasons for the Green Bay Packers. And remember, I was a first-round draft pick."
Love has been impressive in his limited game action this season. In Green Bay's Week 12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, he nearly led a fourth-quarter comeback after completing 6-of-9 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown. In Week 1, he completed 4-of-5 passes for 65 yards. Although it's a small sample size, Love has a 119.2 passer rating and an 86.2 QBR this season.
Packers brass has already seen enough from Love to make a decision in the offseason on picking up the quarterback's fifth-year option and establishing his presence on the roster in 2024. That deadline is May 1. The guaranteed price tag on the option: $19.8 million.
“We’re really pleased with his progression, and what he’s been able to do,” GM Brian Gutekunst told reporters on Dec. 5. “I think it would be really good for him, the growth that you need to go through. Seeing things for the first time. Making the mistakes that you need to make. But I think from our end of it, we’ve seen what we need to see.”
It must be a frustrating time for the young quarterback because he's in a bad situation. He's playing behind arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. Rodgers has won a Super Bowl for the Packers and just signed a new three-year megadeal that pays him an average of $50 million per year through 2024.
I can't imagine Rodgers is going to walk away after the season. I know for certain he doesn't want his career to end on a losing note. He will want to come back and give it one more try to put the Packers in the postseason and have a chance to really cap off his career with another Super Bowl run.
Gutekunst is on record, as recently as two weeks ago, saying he wants Rodgers back next season, which puts Love in an awkward predicament, and one that would naturally lead to a trade request.
Asked by Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal if he would be willing to sit for another year behind Rodgers, Love replied: "That's something me and my agent will talk about. We'll figure that out."
If you're Love, entering 2023 behind Rodgers, you're still not getting reps. You're not getting opportunities. You already played three years behind a quarterback who has been pretty healthy and durable throughout his career, and I wouldn't see a light at the end of the tunnel.
I wouldn't be surprised if Love does demand a trade at the end of the year. There are a lot of teams out there who will be in the quarterback market in 2023.
Who knows? Jordan Love might be available.