Packers quarterback Jordan Love is already on the defensive — and the season hasn’t even started.
After signing a four-year, $220 million extension, Love took a step back last season due to injuries and inconsistencies that hampered his second year as a starter.
Recently, Love addressed the growing belief that he regressed in 2024.
“What is a step back, is what I’d ask,” Love said, via Ryan Wood of PackersNews.com. “Everybody has different opinions, things like that. You’ve got to block that stuff out. It’s all about the goals of the team. At the end of the day, I’d say we won more games than we did the year before. So that’s why I ask people, what is a step back? Everybody has opinions and things like that, you try to block that out and just focus on doing me, being the best player I can be and go forward. At the end of the day, personal stats and things like that, that’s all in the back. You’ve got to focus on goals of the team first and foremost.”
According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Love “will be fine” despite the streaky play he’s shown through his first two seasons. Breer pointed out how Year 2 as a full-time starter often challenges young quarterbacks.
“My take is that things get harder in some ways for a young quarterback in his second year as a starter,” Breer wrote. “The league has had an entire offseason to study him. Teams are facing him for the third and fourth time, giving them familiarity with his game, and others the opportunity to see how those in-division opponents are attacking him. As teams start to pick at the quarterback’s weaknesses, he has to develop in those areas.”
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Love’s challenges won’t end with his own development. Green Bay faces a daunting schedule, particularly within an NFC North division now stacked with promising quarterbacks. That, combined with Love’s uneven play, is part of Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon’s nightmare scenario.
“Jordan Love fails to take it to the next level, while [Caleb] Williams, [Jared] Goff and J.J. McCarthy do exactly that for their division rivals,” Gagnon wrote.
The NFC North could be brutal. Three of the four starting quarterbacks in the division have a combined 50 starts. Love ranks second in experience with 33, trailing only Goff. If he’s outperformed by Williams in his second year and McCarthy essentially in his rookie re-do season, the cheeseheads may not be so patient.