Nobody knows if Jordan Love will be good. He might be great, he might be a bust. Only time and his performance on the field will determine that. However, we now know how refreshing it is for the Green Bay Packers to have a normal press conference. No reading between the lines, no fact-checking. Just a sincere and truthful evaluation of what has happened in the last three years. That’s how the first Love press conference as the official Packers starting quarterback went earlier this week.
Love was comfortable and confident, which allowed him to talk about his most challenging days.
“I’ll admit, I think the hardest time was when he (Aaron Rodgers) re-signed the contract last year,” Love said on Wednesday. “It was kinda like, ‘OK, well, where do we go from here? What do I do?’ And I think I sat back, thought to myself and just came back with the approach like, let’s just go ball out any opportunity I get. I’m gonna get preseason, and who knows what happens after that? So just grow and try and become the best version of myself and I can’t really control what happens after that, so let it play out.”
And that’s exactly what Love did. The sample size is small, but there were clear improvements from what Love had shown. He knows there’s pressure for him, and that would happen anyway for a player replacing Rodgers. Still, he looks mentally ready to achieve his task.
“I mean, it’s pressure,” Love admitted. “No matter where you’re going to be at, there’s going to be pressure. You’re an NFL quarterback. There’s only so many of you, so everyone’s watching you. Everyone’s watching every move you make on the field, so it’s pressure, but that’s what comes with the position. That’s what I signed up for. That’s what I knew I was getting myself into and it comes down to me just making the most of that.”
During his press conference, Love said the three years didn’t go fast, but it was an important time for a raw player to develop his skills, his leadership, and how he’s able to process everything that happens on a football field.
“Since I’ve been here, I’ve improved drastically. I have confidence in myself. I have confidence in the team. And we’re just going to take it day by day,” Love said. “I mean, I can’t say what might happen this year, what might happen next year. I mean, who knows? I know it’s not going to be easy this year. But one thing I do is, I tell myself every day that I’m good enough.”
For the last three years, the Packers-Rodgers relationship was so strained that the team’s fan base lost some of the emotional attachment to the veteran quarterback. Therefore, trading him and moving forward with Love became an almost strictly rational decision. And it looks like this isn’t just an outside perspective. Right after Love’s conference, running back Aaron Jones talked about the quarterback transition, and the runner is ready to play with Love – even though he always praised Rodgers for the impact on his career.
“A-Rod doesn’t want to be here, so he’s not going to be here,” Jones said. “You’ve got to shift your focus and get ready.”
The understanding for the last couple of years was that having Aaron Rodgers as the quarterback was great, because of how well he plays and how he gives the team a chance to win every Sunday. But at the same time, his off-the-field demeanor created a bad aura around Green Bay. When the team stopped winning as much in their 2022 mediocre season, the math wasn’t favorable anymore. That’s why it has been common to see tired fans happy with the transition.
Ultimately, Jordan Love‘s performance on the field will define almost everything: how much time he’ll be in Green Bay, how happy fans will be with him, and how the perception around the transition will be established. However, there is also a human element to all of this. Love looks ready to face that part, which is also a relevant aspect of his development as the leader of an NFL locker room.
