Former Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert has been the go-to pairing for the Los Angeles Chargers to this point. But there’s another signal-caller who will be under their microscope during the Senior Bowl week.
Even though he hasn’t gotten the same amount of publicity that Herbert has gotten when it comes to being a viable option, former Utah State quarterback Jordan Love has been mocked to the Bolts before – and there’s plenty of reason to believe that he would be a great fit.
So who is Jordan Love?
Love started his football career in high school as a wide receiver, but would eventually move to quarterback and was named offensive player of the year and Most Valuable Player as a senior at Liberty High School in Bakersfield, CA. He led them to their first ever division championship.
Prior to the major accomplishment, Love, who was 14 at the time, went through some personal trauma as his father took his own life away. Following the tragic event, he utilized the football field as a coping method and would use his father’s passing and his mother and three sisters as a sense of motivation.
Despite being named California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Conference Offensive Player of the Year during his final year, Love was graded as a two-star recruit and his only FBS offer came from Utah State – which is where he would end up spending the next three years.
Love redshirted his freshman year in college, but went on to play all 12 games in 2017, starting five of them where he set a new school-high 1,631 passing yards for a freshman at Utah State, while adding eight touchdowns to six interceptions.
The following season, the Bakersfield native raised a lot of eyebrows after throwing for 3,567 yards with 32 touchdowns and six interceptions in 2018. With high standards set the year after, he failed to meet them, finishing with 3,402 yards for 20 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
It’s easy to judge him based on the stat sheet, but his statistical decline isn’t necessarily an indicator of a regression in skill.
Love lost his head coach Matt Wells, who took a job at Texas Tech, which had an affect on the offensive system that he chimed with so well a year prior. Along with that, he didn’t benefit from losing all but one starter on the offensive side of the ball.
Instead of going back for his senior season or transferring to Texas Tech to reunite with his former coach, Love decided to take the leap to the NFL, which stirred up a mixed bag of opinions because many thought he would help himself by playing another year.
“He’s the guy that could really jump up through the process because coming out of the summer I thought he was going to be a first-round pick for sure and most teams had him in the first round.
They had the coaching change out there and just I think the combination of turnover, new system and then just feeling the pressure of a lot of that first-round talk in the summer in the media and all the hype. He looked like he was trying to do way too much,” Senior Bowl executive Jim Nagy said.
Nagy said he sees similarities between Love and Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who was on the fence for many throughout the process, but he solidified himself as a top-10 pick with a strong Senior Bowl week in 2018.
Love’s showing this past season has drawn some pause for many, and those who have their concerns fail to see past what the box score shows from the 2019 season.
That is why this entire week will be critical for his evaluation.
“Jordan Love’s a guy that’s got as much to gain from the Senior Bowl as anybody in our game this year. Physically, he has everything. He’s big, he’s athletic, he can move. He’s got a strong arm. He’s a really natural thrower. That’s what gets you excited about him.”
What makes Love such a polarizing prospect, and what are some boxes that he will have to check to prove to NFL evaluators that he’s worth the high draft selection?
His explosive arm is the most notable thing to his game that immediately pops, where every throw that comes out of his hand has an intention.
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Even though he isn’t much of a notorious scrambler, Love’s athletic ability mixed with his escapability allows him to make some poetic plays on the move.
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Love can successfully make throws in-between defenders or near the sideline, showing no fear testing tight spots.
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He excels at locating passes on the money and manipulating velocities, where he delivers passes with beautiful touch.
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Love can quickly get the ball into the hands of his weapons as quickly as possible and accurately, which allows them to gain yards after the catch in a hurry.
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When being pressured, Love will remain calm and stand tall, letting his arm do all the work where he can deliver the ball with just the flick of his wrist and core strength.
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He also has a good sense of pressure from the outside, where he will climb the pocket and deliver a strike.
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When sensing pressure from the interior, Love does a fantastic job using his escapability skills to evade it and often you still see money throws like this into a tight window.
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Losing all but one starter on the offensive side of the ball did him no favors as they managed to drop a combined total of 50 passes.
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Love looks fun, right? He kind of looks like a player that the Chargers are familiar with by the name of Patrick Mahomes, who some NFL scouts have compared Love’s style to. Even though there are some noted similarities, they aren’t on the same level, and there are still areas to Love’s game that need to be cleaned up.
His vision points can also be locked onto one read, which notes to the defense where he is going to go with the football.
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Love’s decision-making can run cold, where he will look to rely on his arm to make plays happen, even when he can see there’s defenders in the vicinity that are likely to contest the pass.
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These are the type of throws that were frequent in 2019, which Love wishes he could have back. He would disregard the coverage rotation and just let it rip, where underneath defenders would feast.
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The bottom line is that his ability to make any throw on the field from multiple set points is exceedingly impressive, but Love needs to improve his decision-making process and accuracy in order to correct some of the big misses that are there.
Scouts know that he can make the unthinkable happen with his off-balance, across-the-field tosses, but this will be an opportunity to show he can make notable strides from the plays this past season that had many scratching their heads when watching him.
The Chargers, who possess the No. 6 overall selection, will be watching Love closely. Should he continue to do what he does best, as well as clean up those areas of concern this week, he could very well raise his projected mid to late first-round stock to near the top-10, drawing some intrigue when Los Angeles is on the board.
If Los Angeles felt like Love was their guy, he would benefit from being able to sit behind Tyrod Taylor or Philip Rivers (if he’s re-signed) in Year 1. Coach Anthony Lynn, who maximized Taylor’s potential when they were in Buffalo together, would be able to do the same for Love.
With the polish from Lynn, offensive coordinator Shane Steichen’s soon-to-be new offensive scheme and the weapons that feature wide receivers Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, tight end Hunter Henry and running back Austin Ekeler, Love could reach his high ceiling with the Bolts.
