If you believe what the Green Bay Packers fans believe, new starting quarterback Jordan Love will be just fine, at least fine enough to earn back his starting gig for the 2024 season.
According to a fan poll conducted by SB Nation’s Acme Packing Co., 92% of Packers fans believe Love will be able to keep the role of starting quarterback for the 2024 season. That means, at least indirectly, that the young player going into his third year in the NFL will do a good enough job leading the offense to retain his top dog quarterback status.
This is a great show of belief in a player who will turn 25 early into this coming season and who only has 83 pass attempts and one start in his two-year NFL career. This vote of support is even more incredible given the reality that nobody in the entire league will be under more pressure and scrutiny this season than Love.
The 2020 first round pick from Utah State will be taking the snaps after about 30 years of Hall of Fame quarterback play in Green Bay and if you don’t think fans and media will be watching and comparing, then you don’t know sports or sports fandom.
With the drama involving the trade of Aaron Rodgers (and the drama of Aaron Rodgers, generally speaking), Love has been able to fly under the radar a bit and work at improving his game at his own pace. Come this season, though, it’s baptism by fire time and everyone will by watching and opining.
In many ways, Love finds himself in the same situation Rodgers did, back in 2008 when Brett Favre had one foot out the proverbial door and the young Rodgers was pegged to be the new man at quarterback.
At the time, the Packers front office made all the right moves to help Rodgers succeed and, in the bigger picture, help the team succeed. They drafted seven offensive players in nine selections to help build a quality supporting cast around the Rodgers. Among the players added were wide receiver Jordy Nelson, tight end Jermichael Finley, and offensive lineman Josh Sitton. The team would also draft two quarterbacks to serve as insurance, just in case Rodgers wasn’t the man they thought he was.
The end result of this Packers strategy was an 8-year run of making the post season and a Super Bowl victory in 2011.
Time will tell how the draft selections this year will pan out and whether they can be the Nelsons and Finleys to this incoming quarterback. The Packers, though, have mostly followed the same strategy in positioning Love for success that they did when moving Rodgers in. Again, time will tell how successful that is.
At any rate, the fans seem to believe in Love and that will help. Expect a quick turn, however, if things start to go bad.
