The Green Bay Packers have made a grand show of solidarity regarding the Aaron Rodgers saga over the past few months. Team brass has made it clear they are not going to trade the future Hall of Famer and they also aren’t going to acquiesce to his demands. They expect him to report to the team under the conditions of his contract. If he doesn’t? They’ll fine him until he does and be just fine with former 1st round pick Jordan Love in the interim.
Yet as OTAs and mandatory minicamps have come and gone, Rodgers has remained unmoved. This has resulted in the Packers starting to scramble. Love has gotten almost every meaningful snap in practice (270 out of 300) in a mad dash to prepare him for the possibility he could start. This offers the latest evidence of just how off guard the Rodgers holdout caught them. So where do things stand? According to Albert Breer of the MMQB, nothing Love has done seems to have convinced the team he is ready.
“Where is he now? He’s made progress. His footwork was a ground-up operation, and he’s made big strides there. He’s much smoother calling it in the huddle and, after a weird rookie year in which he got very little work (because of the circumstances), he now has a feel for what the Packers want from him.
But just how much ground he’s made up on one of the greatest of all-time, I’m not sure. And I’d think he’d have to make up a lot for LaFleur or Gutekunst to move off their position on Rodgers at all, which is where what No. 10 does is relevant to No. 12. And one thing I can say is those guys still want No. 12 back badly.”
So while optimism is easy this time of year?
Reality is slowly asserting itself. The Packers always knew Love was a project. Despite his considerable talent, there were a lot of holes in his game that would need fixing before he had a chance to become anything close to what Rodgers is. Improving his footwork is all fine and good when you’re practicing against air. Will that hold when he starts going against the defense for real in training camp?
It sounds like the coaching staff isn’t overly anxious to find out. If things were going well, one would imagine the buzz would be far thicker up in Green Bay. It hasn’t been. Outside of one really strong day, the Love hype machine remains quiet. After back-to-back years of flirting with Super Bowl glory, the Packers may be starting down their own mortality.
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Jordan Love is facing near-impossible circumstances
Remember that Rodgers himself faced the unenviable task of replacing Brett Favre back in 2008. Even so, he’d had the benefit of three seasons to prepare on the bench. Love has to play in the shadow of both of those all-time greats and he only had one. A season in which there were limited offseason reps and no preseason. So not only is Rodgers giving him less time to prepare, but the time he’s had hasn’t been anything close to normal.
One can only feel sorry for the kid. He didn’t ask for this situation. Yet it is what he’s been handed. Jordan Love must do everything he can to run with it. The Packers certainly hope he does because things aren’t likely to end well for a lot of people if he flops. GM Brian Gutekunst will go down in history as the man who cost Green Bay the final great years of Rodgers’ career because he wanted to look towards the future early.
What is that saying about a road to hell and good intentions?
Love can’t just be okay in his role moving forward. That is the problem. The bar is set so high in Green Bay that nothing short of great will be acceptable. The Packers had a plan to help him (hopefully) get there. That plan burned to ashes when Rodgers decided to step away. If he has to start now, then it’s going to be quite an education from the NFL. Particularly a division that is all too eager to make his life miserable.