Tag: Jordan Love

Matt LaFleur chooses Jordan Love’s best throw from 2023 season

A clutch throw in his first playoff start was Matt LaFleur’s pick for Jordan Love’s best from the 2023 season.

Matt LaFleur was impressed with Jordan Love’s overall performance in his first season as the starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. The Packers finished 9-8 and reached the playoffs as a wildcard team thanks largely to some impressive play from Love down the stretch.

Naturally, there were plenty of memorable throws from Love’s 2023 campaign, in which he completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 4,159 yards and 32 touchdowns. However, LaFleur quickly pointed out what he thought was the best throw from his quarterback during an appearance on Kevin Clark’s “This Is Football” podcast.

“He made so many incredible throws, but the one that sticks out to me was probably in our playoff game vs Dallas when they all-out pressured us. He changed the protection and threw a dime to Dontayvion Wicks for a touchdown,” said LaFleur.

Here’s the play LaFleur referenced:

It was a great play in a big-time moment from Love, who was making his postseason debut. The Packers were facing a pivotal third down on the road in a hostile environment, but their signal-caller delivered like he had done it a million times.

First, Love used his cadence to get the Cowboys to tip that they were sending pressure. Recognizing this, he adjusted the protection so they had the blockers to handle Dallas’ pass rush. Then, the throw was exceptional as it was delivered with pin-point accuracy despite being under pressure.   

“There were so many great throws, but just that whole process of him recognizing Cover 0, getting us in the right protection, and then hanging in there and making that play. I thought that was an incredible play,” LaFleur continued.

Green Bay, of course, never looked back after taking a three-touchdown lead in the second quarter, coming away with a 48-32 victory to advance to the Divisional Round. Love was super impressive over the last half of the season, but that play showed his remarkable development.

Moving forward with Love as the starting quarterback, the future appears bright for the Packers.

“The growth has been incredible, it’s been phenomenal,” said LaFleur. “I’m excited about what the future has in store for him.”

Packers in early stages of contract negotiations with QB Jordan Love

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said he’s had “preliminary discussions” with quarterback Jordan Love on a contract extension.

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said he’s had “preliminary discussions” with quarterback Jordan Love on a contract extension, according to Matt Schneidman of The Athletic.

Gutekunst is in Orlando for the annual league meeting. Love is expected to get a new deal before the 2024 season.

“We want to do it the right way,” Gutekunst said Monday. “Certainly, the sooner the better, but at the same time, I think we want to make sure we do it the right way. So, we’ve started, but it’s not something that’s gonna go quickly, I don’t think. It’ll take some time.”

There is no rush for either side. Love is under contract for 2024, and the two sides can’t even officially complete a new deal until May at the earliest because Love and the Packers signed a restructured deal in May of last year.

Love is due to make a base salary of $10.5 million and a $500,000 workout bonus in 2024. His new deal will include a massive signing bonus and almost certainly make him one of the NFL’s highest paid quarterbacks.

In his first year as the starter in the post-Aaron Rodgers era, Love started all 17 games, threw 32 touchdown passes and led the Packers to both a playoff appearance and a playoff win. Over the second half of the season, Love was one of the NFL’s best and most productive quarterbacks — which both helped the Packers catch fire and cement himself as the long-term future at the game’s most important position in Green Bay.

Love is still only 25 years old.

Any risk of paying big money to a quarterback with one year of starting experience?

Gutekunst said having Love in the building for four years helps give the Packers confidence in how the player will work and handle adversity.

“The nice thing about having the guy in your building for the last four years, you absolutely know who he is,” Gutekunst said, via Ryan Wood of PackersNews.com.

“Certainly, having four years with him gives us a lot of comfort in what he’s all about and how his teammates look at him and the organization looks at him. That gives me a lot more peace than in a different situation,” Gutekunst said.

Packers QB Jordan Love makes PFF’s list of top 101 players from 2023 season

In his first season as the Packers QB, Jordan Love finished No. 89 on PFF’s top 101 players from the 2023 season.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love made the “PFF 101,” a list from Pro Football Focus of the top NFL players from the 2023 season.

Love, in his first season as the starting quarterback in Green Bay, finished at No. 89 overall.

From Sam Monson of PFF: “Love was one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks over the second half of the season, finishing ninth in PFF passing grade (83.2) overall on the year. When he was dialed in, he was a devastating playmaker, but inconsistency in his game kept him away from the top spots on this list.”

Across the regular and postseason, Love finished with 37 touchdown passes (second) and 37 big-time throws (tied for third) while having just 18 turnover worthy plays (ninth fewest). Counting rushing stats, Love produced almost 5,000 total yards and 41 touchdowns.

A second-half charge powered Love’s ascension. Between Weeks 1-8, Love had zero games with an overall grade of 70.0 or above. Between Weeks 9 and the divisional playoff round, Love had eight, including three elite grades of 90.0 or better..

As of Wednesday, PFF has released only the first 60 players of the list. Love is the only Packers player between No. 101 and 41 and is likely to be the only Packers player on the list when it’s fully released.

Ranking the top 32 quarterbacks in the NFL going into 2024 offseason

Based purely on what we have seen on the field, there are at least 20 other quarterbacks who would qualify as an upgrade for the 49ers

Truth is a rare commodity these days, both in the larger world and in football analysis. While it’s a complicated game and there’s room for differing opinions, one need only examine the takes on the two quarterbacks who just played in the Super Bowl to see the crisis.

On the one hand, there’s Patrick Mahomes, who helped his team overcome a double-digit deficit to win the Super Bowl for the third time in his career. That alone is enough to thrust him into the greatest player ever conversation, and regardless of what you may have heard he is in fact the best who’s ever done it – no matter how many rings Tom Brady’s teams won or how many MVP awards Aaron Rodgers has. In fact, all due respect to Mahomes – but his take that Brady is actually the GOAT is a bad take. While he still needs time to catch up with Brady’s remarkable team accomplishments and Rodgers’ individual accolades, Mahomes is doing things that no QB in history has done and performing at a level we simply have not seen before.

Then on the other side there’s the real problem. The fact that for much of the regular season Brock Purdy of the 49ers was considered a legitimate MVP candidate speaks to the level of dysfunction in so much commentary about the game. Some folks get it, such as former Panthers quarterback and league MVP Cam Newton, who says we need to normalize the truth about the level of Purdy’s play.

Others do not, like Richard Sherman – who carries water for Purdy no matter how poorly he plays on any given Sunday. He may yet develop into a fine starter in this league, but ignore the numbers and actually watch Purdy perform and you’ll see that his throws are often wildly inaccurate, far too many of them are batted down at the line of scrimmage and he frequently makes bad decisions, resulting in turnover-worthy plays. Only through a combination of blind luck, brilliant playcalling and an obscene amount of All-Pro talent around him has Purdy produced the stats he has.

Sherman is hardly alone in his bizarre defense of Purdy’s game, though. Even Pro Football Focus has him vastly overrated, grading him out as the sixth-best quarterback in the league this season.

We don’t understand it, because based purely on what we have seen on the field, there are at least 20 other quarterbacks who would qualify as an upgrade for the 49ers. That’s exactly where we have Purdy placed – No. 21 at his position – heading into the 2024 offseason. Here’s how we rank the top 32.

Seahawks fans are masterfully trolling this 49ers long snapper on Twitter

All 32 NFL QBs (including Panthers’ Bryce Young) ranked by passer rating for the 2023 regular season

32 starting QBs ranked by their 2023 passer ratings

Well, let’s just look back at this like a “Started from the bottom, now we here” meme by next year, shall we?

Here are all 32 NFL quarterbacks, including Bryce Young of the Carolina Panthers, ranked by passer rating from the 2023 season:

Packers and QB Jordan Love will work on extension this offseason

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst is expecting to get a contract extension done with QB Jordan Love this offseason.

Not surprisingly, general manager Brian Gutekunst all but confirmed that the Green Bay Packers and Jordan Love will work on an extension this offseason.

“I think we will go down that road,” Gutekunst told reporters during Thursday’s season-ending press conference. “Certainly, I think that’ll be important for our football team to have some stability there. Jordan and his representation, they’re really good people, so we will start working towards that sometime in the next couple months.”

From Week 11 on last season, Love was one of the most productive quarterbacks in football. During that 10-game stretch, including the playoffs, Love ranked fourth in completion rate at 69.8 percent. His 2,616 passing yards were the most, and he was first in passing touchdowns with 23 while throwing just three interceptions, two of which came against San Francisco.

In the Packers’ three games against Minnesota, Chicago, and Dallas, Love was playing at a particularly elite level, in complete control of the offense from making pre-snap protection adjustments to knowing where to go with the ball when under pressure to his deep ball accuracy.

Love completed nearly 78 percent of his throws in those contests at a whopping 9.8 yards per attempt with eight touchdowns.

“He’s got so much more in front of him,” said Gutekunst. “As good as he played at times this year, he’s got, there’s a very, very high upside which is exciting for him, and again, I think one of the things that you just never know until they get out there and handle all the things that a quarterback has to handle at the line of scrimmage and lead his football team.

“I’ve always talked about how there’s usually a progression there where you go from playing, playing well to winning. He did that in pretty short order in Season 1. Very excited where he can go.”

Prior to the 2023 season, Love signed a one-year extension that runs through the 2024 season. He is currently set to earn $11 million in cash and has a $12.75 million cap hit this season with the contract as is.

Due to when Love’s extension last season was signed, per the CBA, a new extension can’t be agreed to until this coming May.

Ken Ingalls, who independently tracks the Packers’ salary cap situation, recently wrote that he expects Love’s next extension to earn him between $48 million and $52 million per year.

At the high end of $52 million per year, that would make Love the third-highest-paid quarterback in football for 2024, tied with Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson. At $48 million per year, Love would be the sixth-highest-paid quarterback for the upcoming season.

Oftentimes, an extension can be one way to lower a player’s cap hit in the current year. Even though new dollars are being added to the deal, with more years tacked on, there is a longer period of time for the cap charges to be prorated over.

However, in Love’s case, because his 2024 cap hit of $12.75 million is already relatively low for the quarterback position and his extension will infuse quite a bit of new money into the contract, Love’s cap hit for this season will increase.

Ingalls projects that the cap hit will jump into the $15 million to $20 million range depending on how much Love earns and how the deal is structured.

With the Packers currently at $2.8 million over the projected 2024 salary cap, they already have some work to do, but following this extension, additional cap space will be required.

The ultimate goal coming into the 2023 season was to find out if Love could be the Packers’ long-term answer at quarterback. While things were rocky early on, the answer to that question turned into a resounding yes. Love showed that not only is he someone who the Packers can build around, but he has the ability to be one of the best in football, and his contract extension is going to reflect that.

“I think just the way he led our football team,” said Gutekunst when asked what about Love impressed him the most, “through the tough times, through the success, all the challenges that a season kind of brings you, he did a really good job leading those guys.

“I think for a young player in his first year that’s trying to figure it all out, I think that was exceptional.”

Packers QB Jordan Love describes 2023 season as ‘rollercoaster’ and ‘fun journey’

The Packers 2023 season was a rollercoaster ride but also a fun journey for Jordan Love and the Packers.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love described his first season as the starter as a “rollercoaster” but also a “fun journey” that included tough moments, big wins and a fantastic finish.

“A rollercoaster. That’d be the best word to describe it,” Love told Larry McCarren of Packers.com. “Been a lot of highs, a lot of lows, a lot of great learning points throughout the season and a lot of fun wins. Been a rollercoaster of emotions, rollercoaster of a season but it’s been a fun journey.”

What a rollercoaster ride it was.

Love and the Packers beat the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in Week 1, gave up a late lead in Atlanta in Week 2, improved to 2-1 with a 17-point comeback win over the New Orleans Saints in Week 3, lost four straight games sandwiching the bye week, won three of the next four games — including big-time wins over the Lions and Chiefs — to revive the season, dropped back-to-back games against the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, clinched a playoff berth with a three-game win streak featuring division wins over the Minnesota Vikings and Bears to close the regular season, stunned the Dallas Cowboys in the wildcard round and then suffered heartbreak late in the divisional round in San Francisco.

The team’s ride mirrored Love’s. He threw six touchdown passes and led the NFL in passer rating during the first two weeks. He threw seven interceptions during the four-game losing streak. Over the final 10 regular season games, when the Packers finished 7-3, Love tossed 21 touchdown passes and only three interceptions. He was nearly perfect through his first six quarters of postseason play but it fell apart late for Love and the Packers in San Francisco, and his final pass was intercepted with Green Bay trailing by three points.

Overall, Love produced 41 total touchdowns and almost 5,000 total yards across 19 games.

The Packers traded away future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers during the offseason, clearing the way for the start of the Love era in Green Bay. The first-year starter checked every box in 2023 and now he’s ready for more.

“For me personally, I’m confident in my ability. All I need was an opportunity,” Love said. “I knew there would never be a doubt in my mind that once I got on that field, I was going to go out there and make plays and guys around me were going to step up. That was never a doubt in my mind. Now it’s just turning into, how can we continue to get better? How can I find ways to get better, improve my game and win as many games as possible and go get that Super Bowl.”

Final stats for Packers QB Jordan Love’s first season as starter in 2023

Jordan Love started 19 games for the Packers in 2023. Here’s an in-depth statistical look at his first season as the starting QB in Green Bay.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love ended up starting 19 games during his first season as the starter in 2023. In what must represent something approaching a best-case scenario, Love started every game, produced 41 total touchdowns, created an elite 2.5-month stretch, got the Packers to the playoffs and won a postseason game.

A complete statistical examination of his season reveals the obvious: Love was unequivocally a top-10 NFL quarterback in his first year as a starter. Whatever statistical shortcomings he suffered through early in the season were made up and then some during the final 10 games.

Stats can’t tell the whole story but they can help lead to conclusions.

Here’s a complete look at his numbers from the regular and postseason and ranks among quarterbacks in 2023:

Love, 2023 NFL Rank among QBs
Games 19 Tied 1st
Snaps 1,203 (98.7%) 5th
Attempts 634 6th
Completions 409 6th
Completion% 64.5 16th
Passing yards 4,625 7th
Yards per attempt 7.3 9th
Passing TDs 37 2nd
TD% 5.8 3rd
Interceptions 13 20th
INT% 2.1 13th
Passer rating 97.1 9th
Rushing yards 249 11th
Yards/scramble 8.2 8th
Rushing TDs 4 7th
Total TDs 41 2nd
Total yards 4,874 8th
Adjusted net yards/att 6.83 8th
Air yards/completion 6.1 9th
Depth of target 8.9 4th
Passing first downs 230 4th
Success rate 47.9 9th
EPA/play 0.177 4th
PFF grade 83.6 11th
DVOA 19.0% 6th
Times sacked 30 2nd
Sack% 4.5 3rd
Big-time throws 37 3rd
Turnover worthy plays 18 11th
Completions 20+ yards 38 1st
PFF grade under pressure 64.4 6th
Cmp.% over expected 1.4 13th
On target % 76.5 11th
Games, multiple TDs, no INTs 10 1st
Games, 3 or more TDs, no INTs 6 1st
Games, passer rating over 100.0 11 1st

HOF QB Steve Young believes Jordan Love will be elite NFL QB

Steve Young, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, sees Jordan Love tracking towards elite status at the quarterback position in the NFL.

Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young believes Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love is tracking towards becoming one of the NFL’s elite players at the position.

Young, in discussing the divisional playoff round with “The Rich Eisen Show,” said he thinks Love will eventually be in the same tier as Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow, elite passers who have their teams in the Super Bowl hunt every season.

“If you watched him in that game, he’s one of those guys that looks like is going to join Josh and Patrick and now Lamar and Joe. When I watch him drop back, and he’s just big and strong and tall and athletic, and he gets the ball and looks over everything, starts throwing the ball all over the field,” Young said. “Even early in the game, even though he’s young…I felt like he’s going to be one of those guys. There’s only a handful, every year that are going to be in the Super Bowl or in the thick of it because you have one of those guys. Feels to me like he’s going to be one of those guys. He had a tough learning experience, but no question, it was a revelation to see the Jordan Love show and what it’s going to look like into the future.”

Love threw a pair of interceptions in the second half of the Packers’ loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round, including the game-sealing pick with under a minute to go.

During the regular season, Love threw 32 touchdown passes and went over 4,000 passing yards, becoming just the third first-year starting quarterback to hit both milestones (Kurt Warner, Mahomes). In the wildcard round, he tossed three more touchdown passes and was one late incompletion away from a perfect passer rating.

Between Week 11 and the wildcard round, Love threw 21 touchdown passes and one interception — proving he can play at an elite level for an extended stretch. The Packers went 6-2 over the final eight games, beat the Cowboys in the wildcard round and were minutes away from shocking the top-seeded 49ers.

“He had a hell of a year,” coach Matt LaFleur said Monday.

Here’s Young’s appearance with Eisen (comments on Love come around the 14:00 mark):

Emphasis this offseason for Packers QB Jordan Love on late game situations

Where can the Packers and Jordan Love find improvement in 2024? An obvious area: late-game situations.

The growth of Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love from Week 1 through Saturday’s game in San Francisco was remarkable. To continue down an ascending path, an area of emphasis for him going into next season will be in late game scenarios.

“I think when we get back to OTAs,” said Love post game when asked on what he needs to work on this offseason, “just obviously some of these late 2-minute drills to go win the game is areas that we didn’t capitalize on throughout the season. So that will be an area to look at.

“But I think there’s so many areas I’ll have to look at and break down the film but I definitely think just those critical situations when you’ve got to go win it, finding answers and better ways to go take advantage and find a way to win.”

With 1:07 left in the fourth quarter against San Francisco, Love and the Packers offense took over at their own 25-yard line down three. After picking up an initial first down, the Packers had 1st-and-10 from the 36-yard line. Feeling pressure, Love rolled to his right and made a fundamental mistake, throwing late and over the middle, a pass that was intercepted.

Since Week 11, Love had thrown just one interception prior to the NFC Divisional Round. Over the last month, he had been one of the best quarterbacks in football, ranking among the best in completion rate, passing yards, touchdowns, and in general, playing with complete control regardless of the circumstance.

That throw, however, with a minute left and the game on the line, ended up being Love’s second interception of the day, and the decision he made on that final play was even more surprising, given his decision-making and level of play the two months prior.

“I thought we had plenty of time,” said Matt LaFleur about the final drive. “We had two timeouts. We felt like there was some things that we could exploit and unfortunately didn’t get it done. So I think that’s an area that we certainly got to improve on a little bit, is those end-of-game situations.”

Along with the San Francisco game, Love and the Packers also failed to tie the game or take the lead in the final minutes against Atlanta, Las Vegas, Denver, and Pittsburgh.

“Jordan and I have talked about that,” added LaFleur. “Just what we’re calling, what we’re asking guys to do. You’re always going to look at yourself first and be critical on yourself and making sure that you’ve got the right plays dialed up for the guys and making sure just that communication so everybody’s on the same page.

“Never want to surprise guys with a call or anything like that. I think that’s an area of our game where we can certainly see some improvements moving forward.”

Most of those failed late game opportunities came early on in the season. Love and the offense also had their share of successes in these situations as well.

In Week 11 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Love took over with 5:24 left in the game and drove the offense down the field for what ended up being the game-winning touchdown pass to Romeo Doubs.

A few weeks later against the New York Giants, and with the offense sputtering most of the game, Love led a scoring drive, connecting with Malik Heath in the end zone, which gave the Packers a one-point lead with 1:33 on the clock.

Then in Week 16 versus the Carolina Panthers, with 4:00 left and the game tied, Love positioned the offense in field goal range with just 19 seconds left, and Anders Carlson would make the kick for the win.

“I think that’s an area where I’ve seen a lot of growth,” said LaFleur about Love. “Unfortunately it didn’t come to fruition this past game, but I have seen a lot of growth in that regard and I’m confident that that’s gonna be an area, we’re gonna put the time in and we’ll see improvements there. But it’s not just him. It’s myself as a play caller. It’s just the total execution of everybody involved.”

That mid-season turnaround by Love and the Packers in these crucial situations can be attributed to a higher level of execution by the entire offense, along with the coaching staff having a better understanding of how to put their young players in positions to succeed, but also the confidence that this unit gained and the belief they have in one another.

After the Carolina game, Love told reporters that nobody flinched, as he put it, on that final drive because this group knows their capabilities, and when they play at that level, the points will come.

The Packers laid a strong foundation in 2023, but LaFleur’s message to the team after their playoff loss was that expectations are going to be high and as promising as things look right now, nothing is guaranteed.

Taking that next step starts with attacking the offseason with a ‘championship mindset,’ and on that to-do list for Love and LaFleur will be their execution in those final minutes, but it takes the right play-calls and the other 10 players to come through in those key moments.