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Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer
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Will Tua or Jordan Love win a playoff game this year?
Joe Fortenbaugh rules out Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love winning a playoff game this season with the Dolphins and Packers respectively.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Anyone who thinks the Green Bay Packers acted too soon when they gave Jordan Love the massive contract extension that was agreed to on Friday, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, needs a history lesson.
Go back in the archives or Google this: How many games did Aaron Rodgers start before the Packers signed him to a contract extension?
Merely seven.
The Packers tore up Rodgers’ 2005 rookie deal and on Oct. 31, 2008, they agreed on a five-year extension worth $65 million. It included $40.5 million in the first three years of the deal. While that may seem to pale in comparison to Love — who will make more than that in the first year as part of a four-year, $220 million contract that makes him tied with the Jacksonville Jaguars‘ Trevor Lawrence and Cincinnati Bengals‘ Joe Burrow as the highest-paid QBs in NFL history — Rodgers’ deal did rank in the top five on the quarterback pay scale.
To that point, Rodgers had led the Packers to a 4-3 start while throwing 12 touchdowns and four interceptions. He had a passer rating of 98.8, even while playing the previous three games with a shoulder injury.
Ted Thompson, the late general manager who decided that was enough to go on to pay Rodgers, explained it by saying: “We try to be proactive in our discussions with our current players, and we felt like this was an appropriate time to try to come to an agreement with Aaron. We feel like this is good for the organization and the players, and we will continue this approach as we move forward.”
Current Packers GM Brian Gutekunst, who was an area scout for the Packers at the time, no doubt filed that away for future consideration. After all, he replicated what Thompson did in picking Rodgers (even though Brett Favre was still playing at a high level) when he picked Love in the first round of the 2020 draft (even though Rodgers was still playing at a high level).
Like Love, Rodgers spent three years as a backup and was still on his rookie contract when he became the starter. That was before first-round pick contracts had a fifth-year option, so Rodgers was on a straight five-year deal, meaning he was under contract through 2009.
Last May, Gutekunst had the option to pick up the fifth year on Love’s rookie deal. That would have guaranteed Love $20.272 million for the 2024 season. Instead, the two sides agreed to a one-year extension. That deal gave Love more upfront money, receiving an $8.788 million signing bonus right away. It also made it easier for the Packers to move on after 2023 if they felt Love wasn’t their guy.
That was still in question when the calendar turned to November. At that point, the Packers were 2-5, and when Gutekunst held his annual in-season session with reporters, he asked whether he would need more than one season to evaluate whether Love was the long-term answer. He said he hoped not but made it clear how important the rest of the season would be to that evaluation.
All Love did was throw 18 touchdowns against one interception over the final eight games and lead the Packers to a playoff berth. From there, he put together a stellar performance in the wild-card game at the Dallas Cowboys before the Packers’ season ended with a divisional round loss at the San Francisco 49ers.
In that regard, he was a step ahead of Rodgers, who didn’t appear in a playoff game until his second season as the starter. The year after that, he led the Packers to the Super Bowl.
“The nice thing about having a guy in your building for the last four years is you absolutely know who he is,” Gutekunst said. “There’s no guarantees about anything going forward. But we know how he’s going to respond and how he’s going to react and how he’s going to work, instead of signing a player that has not been in your building and guaranteeing all that to him.
“Certainly having four years with him, I think gives us a lot of comfort, and what he’s all about and how his teammates look at him and the organization looks at him.”
So much has changed for the Packers since this time last year, when they could only hope that Love would pan out. Now they’re set up to build around him for years to come.
“A year ago, obviously, going into OTAs and going into the offseason, there was a lot of questioning on what he can do,” Packers receiver Romeo Doubs said. “Just as far as his poise and control throughout the course of [last] year, I thought he’s done a fantastic job just being able to keep himself at a pretty neutral level as far as not being so high and low. Future’s high for Jordan. I’m glad I get to be a part of this journey with him. I’m only looking forward to progress and growth.”