The Jordan Love era is officially underway in Green Bay. How long and successful that era will be remains a mystery. Louis Riddick of ESPN believes Love and his young Packers teammates have an extremely high ceiling.
Appearing on NFL Live, the highly respected and no nonsense analyst laid out his belief about the Packers offensive potential.
“I’ll tell you this if they can lean on that offensive line which should be one of the best in football, that running back tandem that’s one of the best in football, and they can get Jordan to believe, to not turn the football over, and to gradually build, I think over the next season and over the next couple of years this could be one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL. And I think it has unlimited upside, but they have to take it slow and be willing to live with the bumps in the road.”
Riddick’s comments came just moments after Keyshawn Johnson doubled down on his positive expectations for Jordan Love. The former superstar receiver, who has shared his belief in Love in the past, insisted the quarterback’s path to success was simple.
“Well, don’t screw it up right?
They won like eight games last year. Get them to at least that mark or a little bit better, show that you are a professional football player at the quarterback position in the National Football League, show us that you’ve evolved since sitting on the bench, show us that hey, what the Green Bay Packers saw in practice and what little bit of gameplay you have that you’ve learned from it. That you’ve gotten better from your first year in the National Football League from Utah State.
I think he’ll be successful. I understand that he can’t be Aaron Rodgers off the bat…at the end of the day you’ve got to give him an opportunity to be successful. Don’t turn the football over, lean heavily into the running game and your defense, and get your team into the end zone and I think you’ll be fine.”
Riddick couldn’t have agreed faster with Johnson’s assessment.
“I absolutely agree, and the more I study the situation and think about it…the more I like it. Especially for the second half of this upcoming season.
But there’s no question about it. I think it all starts with Jordan Love, like Aaron Jones said, having that sort of belief in himself. I think it quickly translates to Matt LaFleur, and he must manage expectations in Green Bay, both internally and externally and say ‘hey this isn’t just about Jordan Love, although he’s now in his fourth year, this is about the fact that we have one of the greenest wide receiver cores in the league. They have two guys who are coming off of rookie seasons, who had fantastic years Christian Watson was fantastic, they have two new young wide receivers in Jayden Reed from Michigan State and Dontayvion Wicks from Virginia. They have two new tight ends that are going to be working in there in Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft who are fantastic prospects, fantastic. But they’re rookies and second gear players! So you have to give them some time.”
Riddick’s point about Lafleur controlling the narrative sheds light on one of the most discussed topics in the Packers off-season. At the owners meeting LaFleur attempted to manage expectations for Love. Last week ESPN’s Dianna Russini reported that the organization was preaching patience for Love within the building. This idea has been met with an uprising by analysts like Colin Cowherd who pushed back, saying “If you’re preaching patience and we’re in a year four with those running backs, that offensive coach, that offensive line, Christian Watson, and a very good draft I think they’re telling you all you need to know.”
But Riddick insisting that this is about the entire growth of a team and that the patience is a part of a larger process makes a ton of sense.
Much has been made of the Packers youth and need for veteran players. When Field Yates closed the segment by asking Keyshawn if they needed veterans in the room to get these guys on track, Johnson went against the grain with his response.
“I think you can expect them to be the core as long as they have a veteran wide receivers coach and a veteran offensive play caller. They’ll be fine because they’re in the room with these young guys and they’ll put them through the work and all those sort of things. I think a lot of people look at it the wrong way, and I understand it was Aaron Rodgers, I understand it was high hopes in Green Bay but you got to give them an opportunity and a chance.”
Both analyst’s points add to the numerous reasons to buy low on the Packers. With the Aaron Rodgers drama no longer hanging over the organization and locker room this team can spread its wings and grow.
Matt LaFleur is now the unquestioned leader of the offense. He can build a system in his vision to support his quarterback as opposed to trying to fit what he likes around an aging Hall of Famer. Don’t get me wrong, Rodgers was amazing. He and LaFleur succeeded together. But the combination of LaFleur taking on main leadership and a young, hungry quarterback that’s never known anything but his tutelage is a positive one.
When you take into consideration the future pending cap room after the Rogers money clears, the situation gets even better. If Love does what Keyshawn says and some of the young skill players develop like Riddick believes they will, the Packers “rebuild” could be a very quick one.
