Three years is a long time to wait. Three years is a long time to dream.
For Jordan Love, three years is what it took for his phone to begin buzzing. First from a deluge of Twitter notifications, and then from his agent.
On April 24, Love was lounging in his Green Bay home when he received the news.
Aaron Rodgers had been traded to the Jets.
Finally, the Packers had moved on. It was now Love’s time to become the starting quarterback.
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“I feel more hungry than ever,” Love told Sports Illustrated in an exclusive interview. “Honestly, having that time to wait, the waiting just makes [me] more and more hungry for when you finally get out there.”
While the hunger is there, so is reality.
Green Bay is moving on from an era which saw Brett Favre and Rodgers author three Super Bowl appearances, two Lombardi Trophies, seven MVP awards and two first-ballot Hall of Fame careers over 31 seasons.
Few players have ever stepped into a tougher spot than Love, who will be at the epicenter of the NFL’s smallest city while attempting to fill some of the sport’s biggest shoes.
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There are reasons to trust Love can handle the task.
Coach Matt LaFleur has been with Love since the 24-year-old was drafted in 2020 as a first-round pick out of Utah State. In the past three years, LaFleur has seen off-field growth, which he believes will be of paramount importance for the journey ahead.
“I just think the way he’s matured as a man,” LaFleur said. “The control that he has within the room, out on the field. I think he maximized his opportunities these last couple years in terms of just learning from one of the greatest to ever play this game. I think he really took advantage of that, and certainly it’s never an easy spot to follow a guy like that, but he has all the tools, and it’s on us to help support him through the ebbs and flows that are sure to come. It just happens with the nature of that position, and try to get these other guys around him to play to the best of their abilities so that he doesn’t have to be perfect all the time.”
That is a sentiment echoed by someone who knows Love better than most.
Steve Calhoun has worked with Love as his private coach since the quarterback was a promising freshman playing for coach Brian Nixon at Liberty High School in Bakersfield, Calif. Nixon had sent future NFL signal-caller Cody Kessler to work with Calhoun and now had another star pupil.
Over the past 11 years, Love and Calhoun spent countless hours honing everything from accuracy and balance to footwork and vision.
While Calhoun notes Love has long been a self-starter who enjoys the work, he’s seen substantial growth in recent years.
“His approach is really, really professional,” Calhoun says. “For him to be such a young guy and be a first-round draft pick, the way he approached the game [has grown]. That first year, even year and a half, it’s like he’s standing on the freeway, and cars are just going by because everything went really, really fast. And then Year 2 and into Year 3, he was able to slow everything down. He’s been in the system. He’s familiar with the coaches. He understands what they want him to do and what they’re asking of him.”
Entering this season, Love is being asked to bring together a group of weapons among the NFL’s youngest.
The Packers’ pass catchers are incredibly green, with receivers Christian Watson (24), Romeo Doubs (23), Dontayvion Wicks (22) and Jayden Reed (23), and tight ends Luke Musgrave (22) and Tucker Kraft (22) all entering their first or second pro seasons.
“We have a young group, but that’s a chance for us to build, grow together, build this thing up together,” Love says. “That’s the position we’re all in. We can’t pick and choose who’s here. We just have to pick and choose how we handle every day, how we come together and grow that chemistry.”
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The notion of togetherness was a theme during the time SI spent with the Packers during their initial OTAs.
Additionally, there’s also a continuous talking point about being accountable to their new quarterback. While Love tries to prove himself as a worthy heir to Rodgers’s throne, there’s no denying the truth.
In his first season as a starter, Love will need significant help. And due in large part to his mannerisms in the locker room and meetings, his teammates say they’ll accept that responsibility.
“Doesn’t matter if you’re on the practice squad, the last guy on the roster or the first guy on the roster, he’s greeting everybody, every day,” says Packers running back Aaron Jones of Love’s demeanor. “When it comes to out on the field, he’s encouraging everybody. If something doesn’t go right, he’s still in your ear. … He’s everything you want in a leader and a quarterback. He’s really bringing these young guys along, as well, making sure they know what they’re doing, questioning them in meetings, making sure they’re on their game. We’re going to need everybody. It takes all 11. We’re going to depend on each other.”
Despite Love having only 83 NFL passes to his name, the Packers have seen his upside.
Last year, he was forced into action against the Eagles after Rodgers left in the third quarter with a rib injury. Trailing 34–23 to the Eagles in a hostile environment against a superior team, Love completed six of nine passes for 113 yards and a touchdown.
“I truthfully believe he can get the job done as a first-year quarterback,” Doubs says. “I feel like from this point moving forward, it’s just working with him and understanding what he likes and wants. Just be there for him overall.”
In a vacuum, the loss to Philadelphia was another ugly night in a disappointing season. But for some within the organization, it was an important moment for the future.
“Of course it means something,” Jones says. “He went out and showed he can do it at a high level against a championship team. They played in the Super Bowl. … Not going in warmed up, not going in with the game plan geared toward him or anything. When he got his opportunity, he made the most of it. That really excites me for this year.”
In 2021, Love made his only NFL start, facing the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium after Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19. That afternoon proved difficult, with Green Bay losing 13–7. Love was blitzed relentlessly by veteran defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who continuously sent more defenders than the Packers could block, forcing quick decisions.
The result was Love going 19 of 34 for 190 yards with a touchdown and interception, posting a 33.1 QBR. Still, Love sees that moment as essential to his development in preparation for his current role.
“That game was huge,” Love says. “Really, any time I was able to get on the field in a live-action game was huge and I love that, but that game particularly, you get a chance to learn and see what the game is actually like, see what it’s like when you’re getting all-out [blitzed] a lot. See what it’s like when you have a close game, you’re on the road, the stadium is loud, just the environment. It’s different when you’re watching on the sideline versus actually being in the game, just getting that feel for it.”
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Over the years as an understudy, Love rarely had a chance to get any feel other than for a clipboard. He admits those years were tough at times, forcing him to lean on his family, Calhoun and Nixon for support.
Away from the field, Love is a self-described homebody. He binge-watches TV series, such as a good action flick and lives for The Office or one of the Marvel movies. Occasionally, he’ll live large and go to dinner with his girlfriend.
Then there’s Game of Thrones, a show which bonded Love and Rodgers. Love laughs remembering how Rodgers routinely would sing the theme song in the locker room, while former offensive coaches Luke Getsy and Nathaniel Hackett joked about Rodgers famously being an extra in the final season.
For his part, Love says he enjoyed Rodgers’s company, even if it meant being on the bench. He’s thankful for the four-time MVP’s influence, noting the biggest impression Rodgers left on him was the importance of consistency.
“We’ve talked since the trade happened,” Love says. “He’s a busy man, so we’re not talking all the time, but it was a good conversation, both wishing each other luck. I think it was important, us staying in contact, staying together. He let me know if I ever need anything, he’s there for me, his phone is open, I can ask. But pretty much wished each other luck going forward.”
For the Packers, they’re moving forward with Love. And this spring, that meant a slightly altered approach.
In May, LaFleur inserted more “call-it” periods, putting pressure on the team to execute off-script. It’s also forcing an extremely young offense to grow in many cases through frustration, learning through mistakes.
In Green Bay’s second OTA session of the spring, the offense predominantly focused on the red zone. Love struggled, completing six of 16 passes in team periods with a few drops by the offense and defense.
However, he improved as the day went on, throwing a touchdown to Watson in the back of the end zone, drawing cheers from the sideline. The prior play may have been his best throw of the sun-drenched afternoon, a gorgeous touch pass on a wheel route into the end zone intended for running back AJ Dillon, which the veteran couldn’t hold on to.
It was far from a perfect day, but to an extent, that was the idea. The Packers need to press the issue in ways they haven’t previously.
“We’ve got to see what everybody else can do around [Love] as well,” LaFleur said. “We have some youth, so it’s going to be a work in progress, no doubt about it, throughout the course of OTAs, training camp and quite frankly, throughout the course of the season. But the guys have had a great attitude. [I’m] super optimistic about the people that we have.”
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Of course, summer is the time for optimism.
Mistakes at the Don Hutson Center aren’t criticized on national television. They disappear into the ether, with the help of view-blocking pads hung on every surrounding fence. Most everybody accentuates the positives and minimizes the negatives. There’s no record. No stat line.
That will change in September, when Love takes the field Sept. 10 against the Bears at Soldier Field in Week 1. The man known in the locker room as J-Love (or by some, The Love Doctor) won’t have the benefit of time and patience. At least not without consequences, anyway.
Love knows all this, but it doesn’t appear to be an all-consuming worry. When he talks about April 24 and Rodgers being dealt, one word can sum up Love’s feelings and expressions, even if he uses others: opportunity.
“It’s definitely what I’ve kind of been waiting for,” Love says. “It’s one of those things, and he [Rodgers] talked about it, too, everybody kind of knew it was going to happen. It was just a matter of when and what kind of happens with it, so it was just that waiting game. I was happy it’s finally my time, and I’m grateful for that.”
For Love, this year could be the most exhilarating or most excruciating of his life. After years in the shadows, safe from the criticism and scrutiny that comes with being an NFL starting quarterback, Love now goes into the breach.
Of course, having the risk of failing also means finally getting to play.
And three years of waiting will make a man take his chances.
