The Green Bay Packers are finally set to unleash Jordan Love as their starting quarterback after Aaron Rodgers secured his trade to the New York Jets.
The 24-year-old was drafted back in 2020 after being selected in the first round from Utah State, but has spent his NFL career watching on from the sidelines so far. Many thought Love would be given a go last season as Rodgers once again teased a move, but his eventual three-year contract extension ended those hopes.
Love's patience has now paid off, as the youngster is set to be given free reign and prove to the Packers that he is capable of leading the franchise. But the quarterback did have some doubts about his Packers future last season, and has now admitted that he suffered the "hardest time" when Rodgers re-signed.
"I’ll admit, I think the hardest time was when he re-signed the contract last year," Love said, via SI.com. "It was like, 'OK, well, where do we go from here? What do I do?'
"And I think I sat back, thought to myself and just came back with the approach, like, ‘Let’s just go ball out any opportunity I get. I’m going to get preseason and who knows what happens after that, so just grow and try and become the best version of myself. I can’t really control what happens after that, so let it play out.’"
Love ended up playing four games last season, although none of those were starts. Love has only started one NFL game in his entire career so far, but now he'll be tasked with leading the Packers throughout the regular season - and hopefully more.
There were flashes of brilliance from Love last season, and Packers fans even called for the 24-year-old to be given a chance as patience wore thin with Rodgers. But now the Packers fans will have no choice but to get behind the quarterback, who's determined to be "the guy" after settling for no.2.
"Obviously, you want to be the guy," Love added. "Everybody wants to be the guy. Everybody wants to be on the field making plays. So, it’s not easy, but it was the situation I was put in.
"It was really nothing I could do about it. I say all the time: Control what I can control, and all I can control with that situation is how I approach every day, how I learn, how I grow and how I get myself ready if my name’s called."
