There are two types of teams in the NFL: those that have a franchise quarterback, and those that do not. Teams constantly wrestle with the question, How do you successfully develop a starting quarterback in the NFL? There have been prospects who boomed and busted regardless if they were Week 1 starters, initially role players, or if they were stuck on the sideline for a year (or longer) to “develop.”
The Green Bay Packers have consistently been in the camp of drafting quarterbacks and having them sit and develop. With Jordan Love now the unquestioned starting quarterback, it’s worth taking a moment to assess who he was as a prospect coming out of Utah State and how he’s developed thus far.
Here’s a smattering of pros and cons from some of the most well-respected NFL draft analysts on Love coming out of Utah State:
Pros:
- Daniel Jeremiah, NFL.com: “Love has ideal size, arm strength, and athletic ability. He operated out of the ‘gun at Utah State and was very fluid and smooth in his setup. He throws from a variety of platforms and arm angles.”
- Lance Zierlein, NFL.com: “He has the arm to stick throws into tight windows. Tall in the pocket and smooth, natural thrower. Makes athletic pocket exits when scrambling.”
Cons:
- Matt Miller, Bleacher Report (now ESPN): “He must work on cleaning up his decision-making while also growing into a professional quarterback after coming from a conference where his arm strength and athleticism were good enough to win.”
- Jordan Reid, The Draft Network (now ESPN): “His decision-making and footwork need refinement.”
Over his last two years in college, Love’s touchdown-to-interception rate went from 32:8 in 2018 to 20:17 in 2019. The downturn in performance was concerning. In his 2019 film, many analysts harped on his inconsistent decision-making and sloppy footwork. They believed Love would benefit from sitting for a while. Luckily for Love, he landed with the perfect franchise to allow him to grow.
Love was drafted at a weird time. Because of COVID-19, he had a bit of a non-traditional rookie season where the league reduced training camp from 16 to 14 padded practices and preseason games were canceled. Because of this, Love didn’t play in an NFL game until the 2021 preseason, over a year after he was drafted, and lost out on valuable game-time experience.
Love’s first regular season action came against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2021. He started the game, replacing Aaron Rodgers when COVID-19 sidelined him, and completed 56% of his passes for 190 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. While the performance was average, at best, the Chiefs’ defenders amassed 40 blitz snaps in that game. This marked a significant increase in the 19 blitz snaps per game the Kansas City defense averaged throughout 2021. This was Love’s “Welcome to the NFL” moment. Kansas City was going to make Love beat them. While the Packers lost the game, Love largely protected the ball and showed significant mobility, only taking one sack in the face of constant pressure.
After 2021, Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements was asked about balancing preparing Aaron Rodgers for the 2022 season and developing Love he noted, “This is Jordan’s third year, just try to become more familiar with the offense. Where you don’t have to think about it as much, it just clicks.” Around the same time, Love was asked what he learned from his start in Kansas City, “I think getting out there and getting to play is huge,” he said. Coming out of 2021, getting Love more experience to help increase his speed of decision-making was key to his growth.
In 2022, Love got another opportunity to take 10 offensive snaps against the Philadelphia Eagles when Rodgers was dealing with an oblique injury. He completed 66% of his passes for 113 yards and a touchdown while efficiently running the offense and getting the ball out quickly. ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky noted that Love showed an improved ability to read defenses and play in the rhythm of the offense. In that game, Love showed clean footwork to effectively throw the ball at the top of his dropbacks. Slowly but surely, each year we see hints that Love has made progress to address the deficiencies in his game coming out of college.
This offseason, Love’s personal quarterbacks coach Steve Calhoun, of the Armed and Dangerous QB Camp, noted that they were continuing to hone his footwork. Calhoun mentioned a coaching point from Matt LaFleur encouraging Love to work on the planting of his left foot to maintain a balanced throwing platform, which leads to a more accurate passing game.
We still don’t know if Love can consistently perform at a high level. But we’ve seen glimpses of growth in processing time, decision-making, and footwork in his limited NFL game action. Love has fought for and earned his opportunity while quietly continuing to work at his craft. He is ready for this moment.
