The Green Bay Packers and star quarterback Jordan Love recently came to an agreement on an historical contract extension. After sitting out of practice for the first few days of training camp while his deal got done, Love signed a four-year contract worth $220 million. His $55 million average annual salary is tied with Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow for the highest in the NFL.
In addition to becoming tied for the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL on an annual basis, Love’s $75 million signing bonus is the highest in NFL history. The Packers also gave him rare guaranteed money beyond the first season of the deal. Typically, Green Bay shies away from guarantying any money after year one of a new contract.
NFL Legend Peyton Manning Reached Out to Jordan Love After He Signed His Contract Extension with the Green Bay Packers
As one might expect, Love was flooded with text messages and phone calls from well-wishers after news of his contract extension broke. One of the people who reached out to him was Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning.
“I got a lot of texts. My phone was definitely blowing up,” Love said. “Peyton Manning reached out to me. I’ve had a couple of conversations with Peyton.”
Recently, it was reported that Manning’s Omaha Productions is going to be making a documentary about the Packers franchise.
Last year, Love revealed the advice that Manning gave him when the NFL legend visited training camp:
“The biggest thing is just keep going, never let your head down,” Love said. “It’s not going to be perfect. There’s going to be losses. It’s not going to be a perfect season every year, and it’s finding that capability to bounce back when not everything’s perfect. Peyton talked about that. That’s his biggest thing, handling adversity. He said he went – I don’t know exactly what it was – like 3-13 his rookie year and talked about having the rookie interception stat that he holds right now and then obviously his second year they bounced back and went like 13-3.”
As a rookie, Manning led the NFL with 28 interceptions. The next season, he finished second in NFL MVP voting. Of course, Manning would go on to win the MVP Award a record five times.
Green Bay Packers Quarterback Jordan Love Is Looking to Build Off a Strong First Year Starting
Love, of course, has followed a much different path to being a starting quarterback in the NFL than Manning did. The latter was a starter from day one while the former got to sit behind Aaron Rodgers for three seasons.
However, the lessons that Manning learned as a rookie are still applicable to Love. Just as Manning was criticized when he first entered the NFL, so was Love by fans and analysts who could not fathom a day without Rodgers under center for the Packers.
Love also got off to a slow start in 2023, garnering more criticism. However, he finished the year with a 64.2% completion percentage, 4,159 passing yards, 32 touchdowns (which was the second-highest total in the NFL), 11 interceptions, and a 96.1 passer rating.
Based on the salary received, the Packers think he will be even better in 2024 and beyond.
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