What Jordan Love Will Do in 2023 That Aaron Rodgers Didn’t

Jordan Love will be in his first full season as the Packers starting quarterback this year.

After sitting behind Aaron Rodgers for three years, he finally gets his turn to be the Packers’ franchise quarterback. Now with Love at quarterback, the offense will definitely be different than how it was with Rodgers. There will be a lot of different looks that the Packers did not really get with Rodgers.

Here are four things that Jordan Love will do this year that Rodgers didn’t do on offense:

Jordan Love Will Connect With the Young Players

Aaron Rodgers, in his last two seasons with the Packers, did not show up to voluntary offseason workouts. They are optional, but it was crucial that Rodgers showed up last year. The Packers had three rookie receivers in Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, and Samori Toure last year. All three were new to the offensive system and could have used time with Rodgers to get the connection and timing down. Not to mention knowing his hand signals.

Rodgers was not really at the offseason workouts and didn’t get much work with them until training camp. That resulted in a slow start on offense due to new pieces in the offense and Rodgers not being on the same page with them. Late in the season, the connection got better, but it was too late, and the Packers missed the playoffs.

Jordan Love, on the other hand, got work in with Watson, Doubs, and Toure in the offseason. He was getting the connection with them even when he was the backup. The connection showed, especially with Watson against the Philidelphia Eagles, where Love came in for an injured Aaron Rodgers. Jordan Love and Watson connected for a touchdown in the fourth quarter and helped almost bring the Packers back to tie the game.

Also, Love met with Aaron Jones and Romeo Doubs in California this offseason to get more work in. Unlike Rodgers, Jordan Love is working on getting the timing down with all of the young players on offense, and it should help the Packers’ offense start fast, unlike last year.

Not Rely on One Player & Spread the Ball Around

In 2021 Aaron Rodgers relied on Davante Adams even when the play designs were not for him. He got away with it at times cause Adams was just that good. However, it made the offense very predictable, and against the San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs, it was definitely exposed. Rodgers forced the ball into double coverage on a crucial third down instead of throwing it to Allen Lazard, who was open over the middle of the field. That caused the Packers to go three and out, and they lost that game.

The Packers then traded Adams in the offseason and hoped it would have made Rodgers spread the ball more in 2022. Yet, that did not happen, and Rodgers made the same mistake against the Detroit Lions last season in a win-and-get-in game. Again, Rodgers missed Lazard over the middle and forced the ball into double coverage.

Now with Jordan Love in limited snaps, he seems to spread the ball around and not rely on one player. Love just throws to the open target and doesn’t force the ball when the throw is not there. LaFleur had his hands tied with Rodgers at quarterback due to his respect for him and not wanting to get on his bad side. Love is not Rodgers, so Matt will likely have more feedback for the QB.

The Run Game Will Be More Involved With Jordan Love at Quarterback

Whether it was Rodgers or LaFleur, there is no excuse as to why the running game was not consistently used by the Packers’ offense last year. It was pretty clear that when the run game was involved, the offense was more effective. It was mind-boggling that when on third and short or near the goal, the Packers did not use Aaron Jones or AJ Dillon.

There were reports of Aaron Rodgers checking out of run plays last season. Understandably with Rodgers at quarterback, the offense will be more passing than run. Yet, now that Rodgers is gone, there are no excuses for why the run game should not be used more on offense with Jordan Love at quarterback. If the run game ends up being the same as last year, then there will be serious questions about Matt LaFleur.

Run Matt LaFleur’s Offense (“Let Matt Cook”)

Do we expect Jordan Love to be like Aaron Rodgers? The answer is absolutely not, as Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks of all time, and putting those expectations on Love would be unfair. What’s expected of Love is just run the offense that LaFleur wants to run. LaFleur’s system is based on the Kyle Shanahan offense that is run with the San Francisco 49ers. That system does not require elite quarterback play. The expectation for Love is to run Matt LaFleur’s offense and not do too much.

There were many questions about whether Rodgers was running LaFleur’s offense. Rodgers played a lot of hero ball, which makes him such a great quarterback. However, in LaFleur’s offense playing hero ball or going off a script does not work, and it really affected the offense as a whole. With Jordan Love at quarterback, if he just plays within the offense and does not make too many mistakes, the team should be fine this year.

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