In an offseason where there has been more star movement than we’ve arguably ever seen before, it’s kind of shocking that one of the players that decided to stay put was Aaron Rodgers. Despite nearly leaving the team last offseason and speculation that he may depart following the 2021 campaign, Rodgers not only decided to stay in Green Bay, but the Packers inked him to a four-year, $200 million extension that has him signed through the 2026 season.
While solidifying the back-to-back NFL MVP is good news for the Packers and Rodgers, what is there to make of Green Bay’s 2020 first-round pick in Jordan Love? Barring injury, this extension means that Love won’t see any meaningful time during the regular season, so he’ll likely only get the preseason to show the organization what potential he has.
“We think he can be a good player, but we haven’t really seen enough,” Packers CEO Mark Murphy told Packast’s Tom Grossi. “So I think this preseason will be good for him.”
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This situation isn’t totally foreign to the Packers as they ran through a very similar circumstance with Rodgers as he sat behind Brett Favre for multiple seasons after being a first-round selection. That said, Favre did not ink a lucrative extension like the one Rodgers just did during his twilight years with the organization, so things are a bit more complex in Love’s road to one day being the everyday starter.
“I know that the decision to draft him has been questioned by a number of people, but that’s such an important position in our league,” Murphy said. “They said the same thing when we drafted Aaron.”
The big question is whether or not this extension for Rodgers has tanked Love’s future with Green Bay. His rookie contract only runs through 2024 when you factor in the fifth-year option. The Packers could clear $43 million off their cap if they moved off of Rodgers in 2025, but would still be dealing with a $16.3 million dead cap charge. So, it’s not impossible for the team to side with Love at the end of his rookie deal, but the 23-year-old doesn’t look like he’ll have a clear avenue to gain any regular-season experience anytime soon.
