The Aaron Rodgers saga has finally come to an end, and it predictably ended with him staying with the Packers. While Rodgers and the Packers will get most of the coverage for obvious reasons, the far more interesting part of this equation is what happens to Jordan Love.
The Packers drafted Love in the first round two years ago after trading up with the Miami Dolphins to be the heir apparent when Rodgers eventually hung it up.
It’s reported by NFL.com’s Ian Rappaport Rodgers got a four-year, 200 million dollar contract extension, although, Pat MacAfee — Aaron Rodgers’ best friend — is reporting that’s untrue. Either way, Rodgers is sticking around, and Jordan Love isn’t going to get an opportunity to start anytime soon.
Every team with a need for a franchise quarterback should be calling the Packers about Love. Teams like the Washington Commanders, Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts, the New Orleans Saints, and the Minnesota Vikings — I imagine the Packers have their number blocker, but they should call anyway — should all be sprinting to their phone.
The Broncos, were probably the front runners for Love, but they decided to trade for Russell Wilson in the middle of me writing this, and the Seahawks got Drew Lock in return, so they’re probably out now too.
I don’t think Love is a franchise savior sent from an unvaccinated and recently canceled football god’s decision to return to his team, but he’s much better than the available options for most of these teams.
The 2022 Quarterback class ain’t it:
There has been a lot of reports about the 2022 quarterback class being subpar, to put it nicely, but let’s look at some numbers.
For starters, if you look at Cory Kinnan’s Weighted on Target quarterback charting, which charts accuracy based on throws to different parts of the field, you’ll find historically low numbers from the 2022 quarterback class.
The only two players with more than 70 percent were Bailey Zappe and Carson Strong. The rest came in with numbers in the 60s, while some ranked in the 50s, including potential top-10 pick Malik Willis.
If numbers aren’t your thing, then let’s take a look at film. I’ve done a film breakdown of almost every major quarterback prospect in the class, which you can find them here, and I’m here to tell you, none of them sniff the grade I gave to Love in 2020.
If you don’t want to take my word for it. Let’s look at some of the top draft analyst rankings of the 2022 quarterback class. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah had Matt Corral QB1 and ranked at number 34 overall on his Feb. 1 big board.
The Athletic’s Dane Brugler had Kenny Pickett QB1 and ranked number 31 on his Feb. 15 big board.
Jeremiah had Love at number 23 overall in his final 2020 big board, and Dane Brugler had him at number 19. It’s important to remember the 2020 class is widely viewed as a better overall class than the 2022 class, meaning Love’s ranking in that class is all the more impressive.
What’s crazy is some of the 2022 quarterback prospects will cost a first-round pick, but Love almost definitely won’t. All reports coming out today are that Love’s price is roughly a second-rounder.
These teams can get a better quarterback prospect at a lower cost, who has sat behind the back-to-back MVP for two seasons and has been coached in the offensive scheme currently taking over the NFL like a season two of Euphoria took over my Twitter timeline every Sunday for two months.
It’s a no-brainer.
Love’s College Film is Worth Betting On:
One of the reasons NFL teams scout every player even if they won’t draft them is just in case they ever become available they have film notes and personality information on them.
Like NFL teams, I too keep all my scouting reports from over the years. My grading scale changed drastically this season so comparing is a little difficult, but I gave Love a 7.85 in 2020, which roughly translates to a high-second rounder.
Here are some excerpts from my report:
“His athletic ability for his size is just rare. His ability to break contain and make off-platform throws is fantastic. He has the perfect blend of size and athletic ability that will make scouts drool over his potential.”
“Down the field, Love displays good touch allowing him to fit the ball into tight windows in zone coverage. The issue with Love is that he is not consistent enough with his placement to any part of the field.”
Those sound fairly similar to a lot of the things written about some of the 2022 quarterbacks and are definitely the traits we’re currently seeing NFL teams buying high on.
Where Love actually separates himself from the likes of the 2022 class, is his flashes on college film are much more prevalent.