Green Bay Packers Issue Jordan Love A Deadline

Jordan Love’s time to prove he can be the Green Bay Packers’ long-term quarterback replacement has officially begun. President Mark Murphy has set a timeline for Love to demonstrate to the staff and front office that he is capable of succeeding Aaron Rodgers.

The Packers haven’t had to deal with this kind of uncertainty since after the 2007 season, when they traded Brett Favre to the New York Jets. The Packers were fortunate to strike gold at quarterback when Rodgers won the front office’s trust during his first season as the starter. Now that Rodgers has been moved to the Jets, the franchise hopes to achieve similar success with Love a decade and a half later.

According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, Murphy stated that Love must demonstrate his ability to be the Packers’ long-term starter by the middle of this season. If he is unable to do so, the Packers will look for another starting quarterback in Green Bay:

“Patience now has a timeline, at least for how long it might take to find out whether Love can extend the Packers’ 30-year run of MVP-level quarterback play from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers and beyond or if they will have to search for another quarterback perhaps as early as next offseason.”

“I’m comparing it a little bit to Aaron’s first year as a starter, yeah, I’d say at least half a season to know,” Packers president Mark Murphy said Monday. “And I think even though we ended up with a losing record that year, but we saw enough of Aaron to know that we had something special.”

Love shown enough potential last season that the Packers were prepared to give him a shot at starting this season rather than being excessively aggressive in their pursuit of Rodgers. They made the switch during Love’s fourth season, giving the Packers some wiggle space before committing to a long-term agreement with him.