By: Tayyib Abu

It is easy to forget the past in an era of non-stop 24-hour sports coverage, memes, GIFs, and instant hot-takes. Sports fans inhibit a bubble surrounded by recency bias. Everything we see on a Sunday gets labelled as ‘the greatest thing we’ve ever seen’; fans are too quick at forgetting history.

That is why it is time to jump in the DeLorean and examine why former Green Bay Packer quarterback Brett Favre was such a special player.

The Ultimate Entertainer

Favre came into the league after he got drafted by the Falcons. Favre didn’t feature in Atlanta’s plans, and the team traded him to Green Bay. Favre’s career would come alive in Titletown. Favre came into the league after he got drafted by the Falcons. Favre didn’t feature in Atlanta’s plans, and the team traded him to Green Bay. Favre’s career would come alive in Titletown.

Favre entered the league with a reputation as one of the hardest throwers of a ball. Favre’s baseball background developed his incredible ability to throw with astonishing velocity and from different angles. Before Matthew Stafford and Patrick Mahomes, there was Brett Favre.

Favre started life as a backup in Green Bay; he entered his debut game as an injury substitution. His first completed pass was to himself. That was the first sign of things to come in Favre’s career. Favre entered games in the early phase of his career with one aim, hit home runs.

Favre possessed the talent to make any throw from any platform wherever he was on the field. That made him the ultimate entertainer. Favre would drive Mike Holmgren insane with his ill-discipline and willingness to play out of the structure.

While Favre drove his coaches mad, he wowed and entertained fans all over the NFL. Some professionals play the game far too seriously. Favre played like he was in his backyard with his friends;

he enjoyed playing in the NFL and wanted to have fun. Favre desired to entertain fans and his friends. Despite his accolades, records and successes, Favre’s x-factor and willingness to engage fans are what made him so special.

There have been better quarterbacks than Favre, but none of them thrilled with Favre’s unique blend of talent, courage and chaos. As the years fade by, the yardage numbers, turnovers etc., get forgotten; we only remember the style. And Favre’s style of play was unforgettable.

The Ironman

The other thing that underlined Favre’s special qualities was his Iron Man streak. Favre started in 297 consecutive games. Despite the concussions, injuries and various niggles, Favre continued to trot out onto the field to lead his team. Peyton Manning was the NFL’s Sherrif, Tom Brady was the Golden Boy, and Brett Favre was the unbreakable, unbendable Iron Man.

Even after his father’s death, Favre took the field on a Monday night and turned up for his teammates and fans. His dedication and love for the game marked him out from his contemporaries.

Watching Favre get back up after taking big hits, his jersey stained with grass, and the pads uneven was a sight to see. To start 297 games straight in the NFL is one of the most extraordinary achievements in history.

The post Why Brett Favre was such a Special Player appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

Is Packers Jordan Love the future in Green Bay?

By: Reese Nasser

It is well documented that people across the NFL were caught off guard when the Green Bay Packers traded up in the 2020 draft and selected Utah State quarterback Jordan Love. Current Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers made it well known that he wanted the Packers to select a receiver to pair alongside Davante Adams. 

The Packers are still feeling the effects of this decision as it has led to a year-long rift with their longtime quarterback Aaron Rodgers. So was the selection of Love a mistake or a move for the future? Let’s take a look.

Love’s Potential 

Love wasn’t the highest ranked quarterback in his draft class and ultimately slipped on draft day, much like Aaron Rodgers. During his time at Utah State, Love showed that he had the ability to be great. He threw for 60 touchdowns and added another 9 on the ground during his 3-year collegiate career. 

When watching Love, it can be hard to ignore the issues that he faces. While he accounted for 69 touchdowns, he also threw for 29 interceptions, with 17 coming in his final season. He can be risky with the ball and is willing to throw it anywhere. This may not end well in the NFL but with a year of working behind Rodgers, he may have learned how to fix the issue. 

Packers QB Room

Outside of Rodgers, when drafting Love, the Packers QB room was lackluster at best. There was no backup plan, no successor to Rodgers. The selection of Love gave them that. Rodgers, who is entering his 17th season with the team, is clearly not getting any younger. While he is still performing at an extremely high-level, Green Bay knows that it is necessary to have someone else prepared to take the mantle. 

As many people know, Green Bay chose to not inform Aaron Rodgers of their selection before taking Love. Rodgers has made it clear that he has no ill will towards Love. It appears as if the problems lie with the front office and their inability to surround him with more pieces on offense. 

So was it worth it? Was the selection of Love worth ruining ties with an MVP and Super Bowl winning QB? In my opinion, no it was not. While Love could end up being an MVP caliber player himself, he doesn’t help this team win now. The Packers had a record of 13-3 in 2020 and Love didn’t step onto the field once.

The wide receiver class of 2020 has the chance to be historic. After the pick of Love, wide receivers such as Tee Higgins, Michael Pittman Jr, and Laviska Shenault were all selected. Each player could have helped the Packers instantly, unlike Love whose impact won’t be helped until Rodgers is gone. Rodgers has gone on record stating that he would like to play into his 40s and at 37 years old, that is at least three years away. Hypothetically, Love could go the entirety of his rookie contract without ever taking a snap for this team. The risk of losing an all-time player like Rodgers is not worth the risk of selecting a quarterback, especially when he may not be seen on the field for some time. 

The post Was drafting Jordan Love a mistake or the best futuristic move? appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Dylan Parkes

The 2021 Draft weekend for Green Bay Packers fans will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. After a quiet off-season where the only addition to a back-to-back NFC Championship game team was defensive coordinator Joe Barry — many fans expected the draft to be where the Packers would attempt to improve the team in order to finally get to the Super Bowl. But what occurred, hours before the draft, was a bombshell that many people thought could happen but never would eventuate. 

There were growing signs all off-season as the Aaron Rodgers rumours began to emerge. He couldn’t agree on a restructured contract before free agency and an extension was never formally offered which only added to the growing rift between star QB and GM. The shaky relationship between the two eventually came to a head and went nuclear on draft day, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the news that Aaron Rodgers was so disgruntled with the team that he told some within the organisation that he didn’t want to return to the team in 2021. 

The Aaron Rodgers saga has now dragged on for what almost feels like an eternity and a breakup between the two sides looks imminent. With sophomore QB Jordan Love reportedly not up to speed in his development, the Packers needed to address the QB room in order to provide some depth and much needed assurance at the all-important position. Enter Blake Bortles. 

Last Wednesday, the Packers signed former 2014 first-round pick Blake Bortles to a one-year deal. The veteran QB has experience playing under current offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett in Jacksonville and the pair made the 2017 AFC Championship game working with one another. Since then he has bounced around practice squads for the last two seasons and has only thrown two passes in the NFL. So that leads to the question, what will Blake Bortles provide for the Packers? 

1. A QB to have through off-season workouts 

At the very least, Blake Bortles will spend a lot of time with the Packers organization during the off-season. With Rodgers not expected to be a participant in the early off-season workouts it will be critical for Green Bay to have another QB in the mix alongside Jordan Love. Bortles would be able to practice as the scout QB for the Packers and be an extra asset during off-season workouts. 

If Rodgers’ absence continues into training camp and beyond he’s availability becomes even more important. The Packers must go into this off-season with three QB’s on the roster and this was a certainty even before the draft took place. If anything, Bortles will provide reliability and experience for LaFleur as he looks to rewrite his career in the NFL after being the third overall pick in 2014.

2. Back-up QB if Jordan Love is not ready 

Assuming Rodgers smooths things over with the front office the consensus back-up QB for the Packers going forward would be last year’s controversial first-round pick. He spent all of last season as the third-string QB and is yet to even play a preseason snap. Love didn’t even get to practice much last season as Rodgers would have taken the majority of the snaps with the starters and former Packers QB Tim Boyle would have taken the snaps with the reserves in case of a Rodgers injury. With Boyle now in Detroit, you would assume the role would naturally be handed over to Jordan Love. But if he isn’t ready to assume the back-up role just yet, Bortles would provide the Packers with a safe, short-term backup QB. 

Love’s progression shouldn’t be put in jeopardy and it would be unwise to chuck him in the deep end early on in his career. He came into last year as a raw QB prospect and from all reports needs time to progress as a QB in the league. He is undoubtedly the future of the Green Bay Packers organisation and shouldn’t be rushed into the spotlight if he isn’t quite ready for it. 

3. Familiarity with Packers offensive scheme 

Bortles, as previously mentioned, has already spent time together with offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett which will allow him to transition smoothly into the Packers offensive system. He has already been exposed to the west-coast elements of the playbook that Hackett brought with him to Green Bay and will be able to learn quicker than any other free agent QB. The Packers playbook includes several elements of the old Bill Walsh west-coast scheme and it’s what Hackett has been brought up with as a coach in the league. Bortles also spent some time last year on the Rams practice squad and has therefore been exposed to the McVay/Shanahan/LaFleur offensive system. 

Bortles, under Hackett’s leadership, had an average season as QB of the Jaguars in 2017 and was largely carried by the defense en-route to an AFC Championship game berth. He is a quarterback who with the right system around him can be an average starter in the league and could provide Green Bay with a more than capable QB if he was ever called upon. Rodgers does have some previous injury history and had most of his 2013 and 2017 seasons wiped out by a pair of collarbone injuries. If he was to miss some time and Love wasn’t able to step in, Bortles would be able to lead a loaded Packers roster in a few games to keep the season afloat. While that would be less than ideal, the Packers would need to consider every possible outcome at the QB position, especially with them just two weeks into the current feud with Aaron Rodgers that is yet to be reconciled.

The post 3 ways Blake Bortles will improve the Packers appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

Let’s go under the scope. 

Jordan Love was the starting QB at Utah State, where he threw 20 touchdowns to 17 interceptions his senior year. Love was drafted high for his 2018 production (32 touchdowns, 6 ints) and freakish arm strength. Chris Simms gave Love a higher physical grade than Tua Tagovailoa, so that goes to show how physically gifted the 6’4 220 QB is.

Love’s arm strength was the highest in his draft class. Love ousted a maximum velocity that was equivalent to a baseball throw of 98 mph. Love was ideally the perfect “project” QB for Green Bay to tool with, to where he could improve his throwing mechanics and learn to read defenses better under A-Rod/LaFleur.

The concerns clearly lie with Love’s turnover habits. It’s a very concerning tale for a QB to go from 6 interceptions to 17 interceptions. One of the more recent issues with Love isn’t how he graded out of college, but rather how he performed in “training camp”. Love was reportedly terrible in training camp which is a terrible follow up after being drafted late for concerns. 

It shouldn’t be a death sentence for Love if he had porous training camp/start to his career. Peyton Manning started as a rookie and led the league in interceptions, only to become a Hall of Fame QB. Cam Newton had a terrible preseason showing, prior to winning rookie of the year. As cheeseheads know well, Brett Favre was a “turnover machine in his prime”. 

If Jordan Love can get help from the resigned Aaron Jones and a sharp game script from LaFleur, Love can make big plays with Davante Adams and Robert Tonyan in the passing game routinely. LaFleur even spoke to Love about the recent chaos and told him to keep focusing on himself and improving his craft. LaFleur still undoubtedly sees lots of potential in the QB, which is why he’s only a step away from the driver seat of the reigning NFC one seed.

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