All eyes will be on Jordan Love, as it will be his first season as starting quarterback for the Packers. He will get the chance to show the Packers if he is the franchise quarterback for the future.
When you look at how the Packers developed Jordan Love, it seems like they used the same formula they did on Aaron Rodgers in his first three years. That doesn’t mean that Love will become Aaron Rodgers, but hopefully he can be a very solid quarterback. Here is how Love’s situation in 2023 is similar to Rodgers’ in 2008
How Jordan Love’s Situation Is Similar To Aaron Rodgers
First-Round Buzz
Aaron Rodgers was predicted to be the first-overall pick in 2005. He fell due to teams feeling he was not ready to start right away, and landed right in the Packers lap. Jordan Love on the other hand was not predicted to go first overall, but he had a lot of first round buzz surrounding him.
Ian Rapoport even said at the 2020 NFL Combine that teams were very interested in Love and general managers were watching very closely. The buzz around Love was really heating up. The Packers were even one of the projected destinations for Love to be drafted to. In addition, rumors and sources said that former Miami Dolphins head coach and current Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores wanted Love. However, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier and the franchise wanted Tua Tagovailoa instead.
Even the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts were very high on Love and probably would have taken him if the Packers passed on him. Both Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love were both highly touted quarterback prospects that fell into the Packers lap.
Need For Development
When watching Rodgers in college the talent and potential was there. However, throwing him into the fire day one was not the best idea. If he went to the San Francisco 49ers there would’ve been a chance he would’ve got off to a slow start due to the state of the team at the time. Even Alex Smith, who was drafted first overall to the 49ers in the same 2005 class said how horrible they were when he was drafted there.
Coming to the Packers, who were not a bad team and had good coaching really was the best thing for Rodgers. The same is true with Love, as he has a very high ceiling and all of the tools to be successful in the NFL, but was a very raw quarterback and needed to go to the right team. Like Rodgers, he went to the Packers, where it was the right place for him to grow as a quarterback. It seems that Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love landed on a great franchise that apparently knows how to develop quarterbacks.
Tom Clements
One big similarity to Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love is quarterback coach Tom Clements. Clements should be very high considered to be in the Packers Hall of Fame. Before Rodgers and Love, he helped Brett Favre have one of his best statistical seasons as a Packer in 2006.
He deserves a lot of credit for the development of Rodgers and getting him ready for when he took over as starting quarterback in 2008. Rodgers gave Clements a lot of the credit for becoming the quarterback he is today. Now, Clements did retire after 2020, but came back in 2022 to become quarterback coach again for the Packers. In 2022.
Due to Clement’s teachings we all saw a big growth in Jordan Love, especially when he came in for an injured Rodgers against the Philadelphia Eagles. Yes, it was a small sample size, but the improvement that he showed under Clements was very encouraging.
Aaron Rodgers Had His Doubters & Was Under Pressure
When Aaron Rodgers became the starting quarterback for the Packers he was under a lot of pressure. He had big shoes to fill in Brett Favre, who took the Packers back to the promise land for the first time since Bart Starr. In addition, became the starter a year after the Packers were in the NFC Championship. Since his first year, the Packers have gone to the playoffs in almost every season and and even won a Super Bowl. It safe to that everything worked out and Rodgers even surpassed Favre.
As for Jordan Love, he is in a much similar situation. He has to fill the shoes of Rodgers. Now no one is expecting him to be better than Aaron Rodgers. However, he has to carry the winning tradition that Rodgers kept going in his time with the Packers. Not to mention the Packers traded Rodgers saying they are very confident in Love to be their guy. Love throughout this whole process has gone about it the right way, as he has kept his head down and worked. Hopefully it can all pay off for Love this coming season.
Surrounded With Weapons
Aaron Rodgers has had a lot of weapons in his career. He has had palyers like Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, James Jones, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Davante Adams, Ryan Grant, James Starks and Aaron Jones. Yes, none of these players were first-round picks as they were drafted in the second round or later. The Packers made sure Aaron Rodgers had weapons around him to help him succeed.
Jordan Love in his first season as a starter has some very promising young talent around him. His top guy will be Christian Watson, who led all rookie WRs in touchdowns last season and could have won offensive rookie of the year if he stayed healthy.
Then has Romeo Doubs, who impressed as a rookie and turning heads so far at OTAs. Samori Toure showed flashes in limited snaps as a rookie will look to be a true weapon on offense. The Packers also used this year’s draft to give Love more weapons on offense, se;ectomg Luke Musgrave, Jayden Reed, Tucker Kraft, Dontayvion Wicks and Lew Nichols. Like Rodgers, Love is being given all of the talent around him to succeed now it is all on him to deliver.
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