Jordan Love is not ready to replace Aaron Rodgers

By: Tim Rodriguez

For the better part of the last two decades, Aaron Rodgers has been the Green Bay Packers. That may all be coming to an end. Or not. Or he’s retiring. That’s where the problem lies. We truly have no idea what the back to back MVP is planning on doing with his future. Rodgers is rumored to be unhappy with the situation in Green Bay and is pondering leaving the franchise or retiring from football all together. 

Dominance 

Rodgers has been reignited since head coach Matt Lafleur was hired in 2019. The last two years of the McCarthy era were filled with injuries and good – but not up to the Rodgers standard level play. Matt Lafleur brought new ideas and a killer offensive staff with him to Green Bay. Since then, the Packers have had a first-round bye in all three seasons, reaching the NFC Championship game twice. Rodgers has also won two more MVP awards, bringing his career total to four. Unfortunately, Green Bay has yet to reach the Super Bowl. With this team, the Super Bowl is the only goal. 

Why?

The “why” can be connected to two questions. Why haven’t they reached the Super Bowl? Why does Rodgers potentially want out? The reasons are ultimately the same. The Packers have religiously drafted defensive players in the first round, yet had to go on a spending spree in the 2019 off-season just to get the defense to above average. That has left the receiving core outside of Davante Adams with not much to work with. Even with all those first round picks and money spent on defense, both NFC Championship game opponents scored more than 30 points on the Packers. In 2020, the Packers truly could have been one offensive playmaker away; and that is where the frustration really starts. 

April 23rd, 2020

Let’s turn the clocks back. We are one month into the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all just starting to get adjusted to life in a virtual world, including the NFL. Commissioner Roger Goodell is conducting the NFL draft from his basement. We’re having fun (kind of). The Miami Dolphins are on the clock with the 26th pick. Until they weren’t. The Green Bay Packers had sent a fourth round pick to Miami to move up four spots. That was presumably for a receiver, or a cornerback, or a linebacker who wasn’t Blake Martinez. Until it wasn’t. One of the great robberies of the pandemic was not getting a live crowd reaction to this pick. Jordan Love. They picked Jordan Love. 

A quarterback out of Utah State, Love was the fourth and final passer taken in the first round that night. Instantaneously, public outcry went from “What are they doing?” to “What is Aaron thinking right now”. Rodgers was not present on any television sets at the moment, but he was on a live draft coverage with the Pat McAfee show (Oh, this is not the last you will hear of this show) just hours earlier discussing the quarterbacks that were taken earlier. Anyone who knows anything about Rodgers knew that this probably irked him. And why wouldn’t it? The Packers had just played in the NFC Championship game three months ago and there was a treasure trove of wide receivers and talented defensive players on the board. However, both Rodgers and the team were relatively silent about the issue and by all accounts Rodgers and Love get along well. 

Love’s rookie season

The scenario could not have gone any better for Green Bay. The global pandemic limited media during training camp and completely eliminated the preseason. Rodgers stayed healthy, the Packers were rolling, and they capped it off with an MVP for their quarterback, a 13-3 record, and the number one overall seed in the NFC. Love did not have to touch the field. He was an afterthought, just the way the Packers intended. But then, that pesky need for one more playamaker reared its ugly head once again. The Packers fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home by a score of 31-26. The Packers offense was inept in the first half. The “Aaron to Davante” offense only took them so far. Aaron Jones, their other star, was rendered a nonfactor and left early due to injury. Another wide receiver certainly would have helped. More specifically, any of these receivers would have helped: Tee Higgins, Michael Pittman Jr, Chase Claypool, or Van Jefferson. What do all of these have in common? They’re all incredible football players. More importantly, they were all picked within the next 31 picks after Jordan Love. Once again, Rodgers did not mention that. To the off-season we go. Rodgers went on the Pat McAfee show one more time and then went on a long media hiatus. 

2021 NFL Draft

Everything was rather quiet on the Rodgers front. The Packers were still contending and Love was all set to sit for at least one more season. And then Adam Schefter dropped a nuke on the draft. Schefter, a long-time ESPN insider, reported that Rodgers was unhappy in Green Bay, was highly upset with the front office, and was prepared to force a trade to a new franchise. The Denver Broncos were a name that kept popping up (more on them later!), and former Broncos’ offensive lineman Mark Schlereth even reported that trade was a done deal (clearly, he was wrong). Rodgers, without trying, stole the show on draft night. However, he was prepared to facilitate a trade. San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan reached out to his old buddy Matt Lafleur to inquire about Rodgers, which infuriated Lafleur since Green Bay is hell-bent on hanging on to him. At this point, there are daily reports of friction worse than sandpaper in titletown, but nothing is coming from the main man. Rodgers continued his media hiatus and even skipped voluntary workouts. There was much to do about nothing, but it was definitely extra gasoline added to the fire. Then training camp hits, Rodgers talks to the media and is extremely candid about his thoughts. Finally, the two sides came to a solution. Rodgers and the Packers agreed to revisit his contractual status after the season, and the team would bring back an old friend. A close friend of Rogers, Randall Cobb, was re-acquired from the Houston Texans, and things got quiet. 

A punter and a small regional show

The Pat McAfee show. It’s fun. There’s no narratives, no storylines, no drama. It’s just a wildly entertaining former NFL player talking ball with his friends and an array of guests that rival any other show in the world. They talk funny, they make fun of eachother and make some of the more absurd statements you will ever hear. It isn’t even on television. A three hour live YouTube show has taken over the NFL world. How? Well, they have something that no other show on Earth has. They have two close personal friends of Aaron Rodgers.

 A.J. Hawk, a former teammate of Rodgers, is on the show for an hour every day. His children allegedly call Rodgers “Uncle Aaron”. McAfee claims he met Rodgers at a celebrity golf tournament and their relationship has grown through Hawk. Well, they are really close now. Rodgers goes on the show every Tuesday during the season, and sometimes during the off-season. These interviews have changed the way everyone views the hard-to-read superstar. Many media members have said that McAfee has ruined interviewing Rodgers because there’s just no way to compete with what they do. Rodgers is honest, open, and incredibly human in his weekly interview.

 It all came to a head this season. Rodgers tested positive for COVID, and the club reported that he would have to abide by standards for non-vaccinated players. This sent shockwaves through the world as Rodgers claimed to be “immunized” during training camp. Rodgers meant that he had been immunized by using homeopathy, not the COVID vaccine. The NFL denied his request to be treated as a vaccinated player, and he kept his mouth shut. However, once the cat  was out of the bag, he never shut it again. Rodgers spent the rest of the season giving his opinion on all things related to the pandemic, vaccines, and our society as a whole. That is perfectly within his rights, but it certainly created some interesting headlines. However, something much more important came out of his COVID sage. Jordan Love had to start a football game! On the road! Against the Kansas City Chiefs with millions of people watching!

Is he the prince we were promised?

It wasn’t pretty. Not by any means. Love went 19/34 passing for 190 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. The defense held the vaunted Chiefs offense to just 13 points and lost the game. Everything is fine. He’s basically a rookie. It’s his first start since January of 2020. Everything is fine. Right?

Full steam ahead

The world was able to table the Jordan Love conversation because the Packers kept chugging along once Rodgers came back. The Packers won six of their final eight games, once again earning them the NFC’s number one overall seed and a first round bye. Time to wait. Once Dak Prescott and the Cowboys couldn’t get the ball spiked in time, a familiar foe was coming into Lambeau field. The San Francisco 49ers: The team that had had a fair amount of success versus the Packers in recent years, the team led by Matt Lafleur’s friend Kyle Shanahan, the team that just beat them in the NFC championship game two years ago, the hometown team who passed on Aaron Rodgers in 2005. But also, the team Rodgers tried to have himself traded to just this off-season. 

The offenses struggled, especially Aaron Rodgers. The Packers’ special teams was responsible for a ten point swing in favor of the visiting 49ers. Robbie Gould kicked a field goal and it was over. The 49ers were headed to the NFC championship. The Packers were headed to the most difficult off-season in franchise history. It’s about to hit the fan. 

Rumor season

The Rodgers rumors started almost immediately. Would he retire? Would he want an extension? Does he want to play somewhere else? If so, where? Retirements by Hall of Famers opened up spots in Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh. The Panthers have been rather aggressive in their pursuit of a new quarterback. The Raiders have always had a wandering eye when it came to Derek Carr. Then there was Denver. The team that he was reportedly already dealt to on draft night, the team that just hired his offensive coordinator as their head coach, the team in the home state of his then-fiancee. Denver just felt too obvious. However, Rodgers decided to take some time with his decision. 

NBA level approach 

Once he decided to take some time, Rodgers went on a Panchakarma cleanse (Google at your own risk). After completing his cleanse, Rodgers posted a cryptic instagram message thanking a barrage of people in his life, including teammates. Conventily enough, he posted it on a Monday night, meaning he would be on the Pat McAfee show in just a few hours. Hundreds of thousands of people tuned into the show under the impression that Rodgers was announcing something soon. That was not the case. On Thursday, Rodgers informed the Packers that something was in fact coming soon. It has already been rumored that multiple teams have called to put an offer on the table for the superstar quarterback. 

Time to move on?

Most people would assume that after two years on the bench, Jordan Love is ready to go. The team around him would be ready to compete immediately and can get even better with draft capital that they would recoup from a Rodgers trade. Trading the expensive quarterback would also give Green Bay the flexibility to bring back star receiver Davante Adams at whatever price he commands. One problem. Plugged in NFL insider Benjamin Allbright claims that the Packers do not believe in their young signal caller and they have not received many calls about him. That would explain their reluctance to make the switch. 

Resolution 

This story has so many layers and components that play into it, making it one of the more fascinating we have seen in recent years. The Packers have started getting the books ready for something big, with a contract restructure for star defensive lineman Kenny Clark, but that could just be added flexibility for their many in-house free agents. What is the most likely scenario in this? Rodgers and Adams return for one more season together, Green Bay guts the roster to make room for their hefty price tags, and the team likely wins 11 games and loses in the divisional round. In 2023, Rodgers would hit the free agent market and likely sign with a quarterback-needs contender. That would also open the door for Love to start after sitting for three seasons. That is what feels the most realistic, but stranger things have happened in this league.