The biggest surprise of the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft goes to the Green Bay Packers who officially announced to the world that Aaron Rodgers career in Green Bay is officially on the clock.
The Packers made the bold move by moving up from the 30th draft position to the 26th spot to draft Utah States quarterback, Jordan Love.
Can you imagine the reaction on Aaron Rodgers face when the trade announcement came down? He was probably sitting on his couch with his girlfriend Danica Patrick waiting for the Packers to draft a lightning-quick receiver before his evening was ruined. Hopefully, the Packers did the right thing and notified him ahead of time that the deal was going to go down.
I just wonder if the Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, actually had the opportunity on Thursday night to tell Rodgers to relax?
What’s Love Got To Do With It
That’s right I just slipped in a Tina Turner reference. From a stats standpoint, Love would rather not talk about 2019 when he threw 17 picks against 20 TD’s. The Jordan Love first-round draft hype actually began the year before when he threw for 3,567 yards, 32 touchdowns, and 6 picks.
Love whose playing style is often compared to Patrick Mahomes is really a developmental quarterback at this stage of his career. He has a strong arm, moves extremely well out of the pocket, sometimes struggles with accuracy which is caused by poor decision making. However, Love has that Packers QB gun-slinger grit that has lit up the NFL for the past 25 years. Luckily the Packers have time to figure out how to fix his accuracy and decision making issues before he is called into duty.
“I’m already knowing I can learn a lot from Aaron Rodgers,” Love told ESPN’s Suzy Kolber after his selection. “I mean, that’s one of the GOATs right there in the game. I’m excited to be able to come back behind him and learn as much as I can.”
As for Aaron Rodgers, he will be 37 in December, plus he still has 4 years and $78 million dollars left on his contract. The Packers who may have just repeated history made a similar move 15 years ago when they drafted Rodgers during Brett Favre’s prime. Rodgers ended up sitting behind Favre for 3 years before he kicked off his Hall of Fame career.
Opinion
Clearly the Packers do not need a starting QB, but if you’ve identified your next franchise QB you should go ahead and pull the trigger.
Bill Belichick would probably tell Rodgers that championship teams can’t be built in the first round. That being said this move did not in any way help the 2020 version of the Green Bay Packers. Look Rodgers needs more weapons which I’m sure will be addressed in round 2, 3, and 4.
As for Love, talk about pressure. At some point, Love is going to be asked to extend three decades of Hall of Fame quarterback play. That is what real National Football League pressure looks like.
Barring injuries I do not expect to Love play any meaningful minutes until Rodgers signs with the Jets in 2023 because the Packers are clearly the NFL’s version of that movie Groundhog Day.
