At this stage, Love is all about potential
GREEN BAY - Going into the 2021 season, the Green Bay Packers have convinced themselves they have something special in quarterback Jordan Love.
They have come to this conclusion because there is so much on the line with the 2020 first-round pick and not because there is a preponderance of evidence that he is the real deal.
There is a lot you can learn about a quarterback over 60 regular-season and 28 training camp practices, which is exactly the number Love has taken part in during his 16 months with the club. He missed out on in-person, off
season workouts during his rookie season because of COVID-19 but received starter’s attention this offseason while Aaron Rodgers boycotted workouts during his feud with general manager Brian Gutekunst.
But there is no way the Packers can say for sure that Love is headed for stardom based on the recently concluded training camp, which included 14 practices (he missed four due to a right rotator-cuff strain) and two exhibition games (he missed one for the same reason).
He threw roughly 200 passes in 11on-11 action and completed just over 60% of them based on game totals and passing statistics PackersNews compiled during training camp. He threw six interceptions and completed eight touchdown passes, although the latter isn’t that revealing since most training camp work is situational and not aimed at moving the ball down the field.
There was nothing extraordinary with his work in 2-minute drills — although he threw touchdown passes of 47 and 41 yards — and he converted only about 40% of his third-down throws.
In many ways, Love looked like the guy the Packers should expect after a truncated rookie season and just two games and one full practice of live action. He displays a calm demeanor, a strong arm and good athletic ability, but he’s all about potential at this stage of his career.
“I thought he had a fantastic camp,” Gutekunst said Wednesday. “I really did. Obviously, he had a little bit of a pause. And then missing time (due to the injury), which would have been nice for him to have, but I thought he did an excellent job really.
“You saw the growth we needed to see and it was exciting. For me, obviously, nothing’s perfect. And there’s definitely some things in there that I think he’ll take from this preseason with him as he goes. But no, I thought it was fantastic.”
No one could blame Gutekunst for seeing things through Love-tinted glasses given all that is riding on his draft decision last year. His starting quarterback threw a scare into the franchise this offseason and probably will be playing somewhere else next season because of the Love selection.
But deep down, the Packers must be very nervous about the prospect of Love being their backup quarterback this season because even though there is a lot of talent, he is still very rough around the edges. His throws often belie his arm strength, floating to their target instead of slicing through the open spaces.
It will be critical for the coaches to continue to focus on his footwork and willingness to drive the ball down the field.
“The most important thing for any young quarterback, especially for ‘J,’ is the footwork,” Rodgers said. “And when he throws a ball on time, he’s a very accurate quarterback. You know if there’s any type of clutter with progression, or read or whatever, for any of us, any quarterback, when you’re not throwing the ball in rhythm, it becomes more difficult to be accurate and be effective.
“He just needs to trust his footwork and go out and play in rhythm.”
If there was one noticeable weakness in Love’s game, it was throwing the deep ball. He completed very few of them in practice and the ones he did were usually to players who were wide open. More often, the balls were underthrown with too much air under them, perhaps the grounds for coach Matt LaFleur saying that he really wanted to see Love “let it rip” more often.
His longest of 24 completions in the games was 34 yards, a seam route to tight end Jace Sternberger against Houston. His worst deep attempt was an ill-advised, falling-to-the-ground heave to the end zone that Buffalo safety Micah Hyde easily picked off.
Another area of weakness was third down. He connected on some sizable gains, but in the games just four of his 11 third-down passes resulted in first downs and in practice just 14 of his 36 were converted.
All totaled in the games, he completed 24 of 35 passes for 271 yards and a touchdown with an interception (89.1 rating), playing 11 series with the No. 2 offense. The series results were five punts, a touchdown, an interception, a missed field goal, a fumble and two ending on downs.
“For his first live action since Utah State (in 2019), I thought he was very calm, poised,” Gutekunst said. “I thought he was able to get in and out of a place that Matt wanted to get in and out of, and I didn’t think the rush bothered him.
“But he kept his eyes downfield, he actually made some really good throws. And there were some moments in there that he’ll look back on and grow from. But at the same time, I just think he moved the team.”
A year ago, Love entered the season as the No. 3 behind Rodgers and Tim Boyle and his snaps in practice were shared with Boyle on the scout team. It’s a far cry from the snaps and attention he got running LaFleur’s offense in training camp, although quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy worked with him every day on improving his mechanics and footwork.
This year, as the No. 2, Love will receive all the scout team snaps and whatever snaps with the No. 1 offense Rodgers chooses to relinquish.
During his three seasons sitting behind Brett Favre, Rodgers turned his scout-team work into a game-day challenge. Every practice was his game day and he sought to embarrass his own defense, for which he was supposed to be preparing for its upcoming opponent.
If Love is going to make strides during the regular season, he’ll have to do it on the scout team.
“Those are leadership opportunities,” Getsy said. “So, he’s going to command the huddle. He’s going to have the guys looking at him, he’s going to talk about the play that they’re going to run. And he’s going to ask things of those guys and demand things of those guys in that huddle.
“And then we try to do our best to make every play similar to what we do on our offense. So, he’s going to get to play the plays, the way we play him, the way we talk about them the way we read them out.”
Week to week, Love’s job this season will be different than a year ago. Besides running the scout team, he’s going to be expected to provide Rodgers with insights in game preparation and on-field developments the same way Boyle did for three seasons.
Like Rodgers did when he was behind Favre, Love is going to have to play the mental side of the game in his head every week, preparing as though he’ll be the starter even though he might not do anything but conduct kneel-downs at the end of games.
“The mental side of it, he’s got to dominate,” Getsy said. “And on the practice field, he’s got to dominate and take advantage of all those repetitions that he’ll get against our defense or in those moments he’ll take reps for our offense.
“I mean, he’s got a lot of work to do. And I think there’s a lot of opportunities to grow mentally and physically as we go through the season.”
It would be nice for the Packers if he were further along, but the reality is it’s all about potential with Love and until he starts a regular-season game, no one can say for sure whether his future is as bright as Gutekunst says it is.