By Paul Bretl: 7/22/2024
Training camp is underway for the Green Bay Packers, but without a new deal done for Jordan Love, the quarterback won’t be participating until an extension is reached, which GM Brian Gutekunst understands.
“I think it was Saturday night,” said Gutekunst on Monday morning, “they kind of informed us that until we get something done, that he would not practice. So unless something gets done here before practice starts here pretty soon, he will not be practicing. But again, I think this is something we’re all working on. We certainly understand where he’s coming from.
“We’d like him to be out there. It’s important for him to be out there. Obviously you guys know how important practice is, and working with his teammates. But as of now, until we get that resolved, he will not be practicing. He will be taking part in, he reported last week, he’s taking part in everything else.”
Although Love is not participating in practice, he did report for training camp, and he was present on the practice field as well as in the team meetings, said head coach Matt LaFleur. Negotiations may still be on-going, but Gutekunst is confident a deal will get done because both sides want the same thing.
“Again, you never know,” said Gutekunst when asked if a deal could get done this week. “We’re working really hard to get that done. I think it’s really important for us. At the same time, the thing that I have confidence in is we both want the same thing. We want Jordan here for a long time, give him that stability for him, and it gives us some stability for our group as well.
“Russ is doing a great job with David Mulugheta and their team. You’ve got two people who are very experienced with this, so I’m optimistic. These are big deals. It takes time. They’re not as easy as some people may think.”
This offseason we’ve seen Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence sign a new deal that pays him $55 million per year–tied for the highest average annual value in football–and Detroit’s Jared Goff sign a contract that pays him $53 million per year on average.
However, while the quarterback market is a part of the equation, Gutekunst would point out that there are far more pieces to the puzzle when it comes to getting a deal of this magnitude wrapped up. While Gutekunst didn’t dive into those specifics, one obvious element is the long-term factor with Love’s contract and how this pending deal effects the salary cap down the road, impacting how much cap space the team has to re-sign its own players or make outside additions.
“Certainly that’s part of the process,” said Gutekunst about the future salary cap. “Again, we’re aware of that. They’re aware of that. It’s really just finding common ground. Again, we’re really fortunate to have Russ in the role he’s in. He has so much experience, just again confident we’ll find that common ground, hopefully soon.”
After a rocky start to the 2023 season, Love and the offense finished the year as one of the hottest units in football. From Week 11 through the divisional playoff game, which spans 10 games, Love completed 70 percent of his throws at 7.8 yards per attempt with 23 touchdowns to only three interceptions.
Among all quarterbacks during that span, Love ranked fourth in completion percentage, second in yards, ninth in yards per attempt, and first in touchdowns. Love also was the most productive quarterback on downfield passes of 20-plus yards, leading the league in completions, yards, and touchdowns on those throws.
Perhaps the cherry on top of all those stats and figures is that Love performed at that high level while being the most blitzed quarterback in the NFL as well.
In the grand scheme of the NFL, Love has limited experience as a starting quarterback, but there isn’t any doubt that he is the team’s franchise quarterback moving forward. But again, there are many factors in play when it comes to how the deal is built out, not only how much money per year Love will earn, and new contracts are, in large part, paying a player for what they will do in the future, not only what they’ve done in the past.
“Certainly we’re very down the road as far as we know he’s our franchise quarterback and we’re ready to move forward,” Gutekunst said,. “It’s not like we’re trying to make that decision. But at the same time, we want to put the best team around him we can, and we want to make sure that there’s certainly the structure of it so that we can do what we need to do for our football team moving forward, not only this year but in years to come is very, very important. Again, like I said, this is just part of it, not unexpected.”
Without Love, the Packers have only two quarterbacks participating in practice, Sean Clifford and Matthew Pratt, which should be a sign that a deal may done sooner than later. One would assume that if these negotiations were going to go on for a while, the Packers would bring in a third quarterback to handle some of the workload.
“That’s a great question,” said LaFleur when asked how long they can operate with only two quarterbacks. “Obviously we’re hopeful we’ll get something done here in the next–sooner than later. But that’s something that we’re gonna have to just adjust on the fly.”
Naturally there could be concerns about how the locker room would respond to this, but the players understand this is a business and know the work ethic Love has both on the field as well as off, when it comes to being a leader.
“The thing about Jordan is during OTAs,” said Sean Clifford, “he was here 100 percent of the time. He’s been working the whole summer. Guys know that. Nobody’s questioning his work ethic. Now, it’s just, he’s got to do what he’s got to do. He’s our leader, he’s somebody that everybody can lean on.
“It’s not a question of his morals or ethics or anything like that. It’s a business at the end of the day, and I don’t think it’s going to take super long. It’s just what he’s got to do now. But again, it speaks volumes – he’s not in California, he’s here. I got in here at 7. His bag was already in here. He’s in early, he’s staying late. He’s doing all the little things so it’s no worry from the players that’s for sure.”
Of course, the Packers want Love on the practice field for training camp during this valuable time before the regular season begins, but from coach Matt LaFleur to GM Brian Gutekunst, they understand why he isn’t. However, the Packers know that whenever Love is back on the field, he will be ready to roll.
“Whether you’re a young player or a veteran player, I think when you get to camp you want everybody out there,” said LaFleur. “There’s some guys that can’t be out there today for other reasons, but you know, you’ve just got to adjust and adapt. That’s the nature of the beast. That’s part of our game and part of our business, but we’re confident that he’ll be out there sooner than later.
“I know how he prepares, so I’m not overly concerned about that. He’s going to do everything he can to get the mental reps. Obviously the physical reps are really what’s important.”