Green Bay Packers rookie quarterback Jordan Love has meandered through 10 mostly unspectacular practices to start his first NFL training camp.
Several Packers beat reporters, including Matt Schneidman of The Athletic and Rob Demovsky of ESPN, recently noted some of the rookie’s early struggles.
Schneidman put Love in the “falling” category of his training camp stock report, noting “Love has yet to even provide a glimpse at why the Packers traded up to draft him in the first round” while describing early accuracy issues for the young quarterback.
Demovsky wrote Love is going through a “slow-moving transition to the NFL” and “hasn’t challenged Tim Boyle for the backup job,” while stating his natural arm talent hasn’t shown up right away like Aaron Rodgers’ once did in 2005.
Schneidman and Demovsky are both reporting their own observations of the first two weeks of practice. This is what reporters do; they observe, they note, they explain. Neither reporter categorized Love’s early struggles in a way that was untrue or unfair. And neither reporter doomed Love to bust status.
Information consumers – in this case, fans – must decide what to do with the information they are provided.
In many ways, Love’s early struggles just don’t matter, especially in the grand scheme of things. He is a raw, first-year quarterback, learning a brand new offense, during a unique training camp, following an offseason that was 100 percent virtual. Rookie quarterbacks face enough challenges as it is. Love’s head must be spinning.
Most rookie quarterbacks get OTAs and minicamp to be on the field, making mistakes and learning the ropes well before camp. It is a hugely valuable time. They get a chance to experience calling a complicated new play in a huddle for 10 new teammates. They get opportunities to get to the line with their mind racing, scan a defense, execute a play and make a throw.
Love didn’t get any of those experiences. He learned the playbook over Zoom meetings for a few months. He arrived in Green Bay, stepped onto the practice field on the first day of training camp and had to learn everything – especially physically – on the fly.
There’s no way to overstate the challenge Love faced. It was enormous. So expectations must be adjusted, and assumptions can’t be made after 10 practices.
Love has struggled, as both Schneidman and Demovsky noted, and that’s all perfectly fine.
The national media took Schneidman’s reporting and ran with it, predictably. Love is a first-round pick, playing behind Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers, in a city built on iconic quarterback play. Love is struggling during a training camp where access is being restricted all over the league? Well, that’s big news, and it was guaranteed to generate big clicks.
Schneidman didn’t write Love was struggling to get clicks. His blurb on Love was buried in his stock report. The headline had nothing to do with Love. The headline photo wasn’t even of the rookie quarterback. It’s perfectly clear; Schneidman’s motive was reporting information, nothing else, and claiming otherwise is disingenuous.
In fact, Packers coach Matt LaFleur knows Love is going through a difficult challenge. He specifically talked about Love relying more on his instincts and letting it rip instead of overthinking and playing hesitantly. His comments on Love have been fair, and informative. LaFleur knows he’s grooming a talented young player in difficult circumstances.
Why might the Love information actually matter?
Well, reports of accuracy issues are at least somewhat concerning. Love had accuracy issues in college, and, in general, accuracy doesn’t magically go away or get coached out of a player at the next level. Circumstances change, and Love dealt with a lot of moving parts at Utah State, especially during his final year, so it was reasonable to predict some improvement. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t.
Also, the fact that Love hasn’t necessarily wowed onlookers with a big arm or dominant physical traits is at least noteworthy here. Ten practices is a decent sample size. It’s somewhat surprising that he hasn’t at least made a handful of really impressive throws during 11-on-11 work. LaFleur wants him to let it rip, so maybe the wow throws are coming. Love certainly had plenty of wow moments at Utah State. He fit the ball into tight windows, made big throws down the field and used his athleticism to get out of trouble and create on his own. There’s no doubt the Packers want to see more of this on the practice field, but again, he’s still learning how to fly in a new offense against a whole new level of competition.
Love is a work in progress. That was obvious before the pandemic hit. He’s a talented young quarterback from the Mountain West Conference who needed time to develop the rougher edges of his game as a passer. The Packers freely admit this, especially now, after Love lost his first offseason.
A lot has been made of Love’s early struggles. It might matter some, but it also really doesn’t. Patience is required, now more than ever.
[vertical-gallery id=49688]