Pack GM: Need more time to evaluate QB Love

Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff WriterNov 1, 2023, 02:10 PM ET
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GREEN BAY, Wis. — Seven games into Aaron Rodgers‘ first season as the Green Bay Packers starting quarterback back in 2008, they gave him a contract extension. At the same point in Jordan Love‘s first season as QB1, the Packers still need more time to evaluate whether he’s the long-term future of the franchise.

Love still has another year left on his deal, so it’s not paramount from a contractual situation. But they would rather it not take more than this season to know whether he’s the answer.

“I hope not,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said Wednesday during his annual midseason news conference. “I think we’ve got 10 games left. These are going to be very important 10 games.”

The Packers started 2-1 under Love, and he had seven touchdowns and just one interception to that point. Since then, the Packers have lost four straight and Love has thrown four touchdowns and seven interceptions.

“I think he’s done a lot of really good things,” Gutekunst said. “Really like the way he’s responded to the adversity, how he’s led the team. Again, we’ve got to be better as a unit, and I expect that to happen over the next 10 games. And I think that we’re going through some things that we knew we would go through. We haven’t had the results that we want, but I do like the way guys are responding to things.”

The offense’s struggles in the first half have crippled the team. Opponents have outscored Green Bay 73-9 combined in the first halves of the past five games. Its minus-59 first-half point differential is tied for the second worst in the NFL. The Packers are plus-42 in the second half, which is second best in the league.

Gutekunst described Love’s play as “a little up and down.”

“Like our entire offense, right?” he said. “I think it’s been a work in progress for the entire offense. There’s been glimpses, particularly in the second halves, of really good football. But we have not started very well. So, I think that group, that unit as a whole has a lot of work to do. But at the same time, they’re kind of committed to the process, believe in that group of guys and expect better results coming.”

Gutekunst surrounded Love with the youngest roster in the NFL and did not do anything to change that before Tuesday’s trade deadline. Nowhere is that more evident than at the pass-catching positions, where, between receivers and tight ends, the Packers have nine players in their first or second season in the NFL. Fourth-year tight end Josiah Deguara is the only receiver or tight end with more than two years of experience.

Love ranks last in completion rate (57.7%) among the 32 qualifying quarterbacks, just behind the Jets’ Zach Wilson (58.3%). The Packers rank 25th in total yards per game and 21st in passing yards per game.

“When the group as a whole is not functioning the way it should function, then it’s hard to evaluate anybody,” Gutekunst said. “At the same time, it’s on us to get that right so we can move forward and evaluate the guys we have in that room. But yeah, when we’re not clicking, it’s tough to evaluate anything.”

Gutekunst’s comments came two days after coach Matt LaFleur said it’s been difficult to evaluate Love to this point.

“I think in order to do that, I think everybody’s got to play better around him, quite frankly,” LaFleur said Monday. “Are there some things he can do better? Absolutely. I think he’d be the first to tell you. Are there some things we can do as a staff to help our guys? Absolutely. And then, when there are plays there to be made, we’ve got to make the plays.”

Although Love spent three seasons as Rodgers’ backup, Gutekunst said he has evaluated him as a first-year player.

Gutekunst in the offseason signed Love to a contract extension that is worth up to $22.5 million through the 2024 season. It was in place of exercising the fifth-year option on his rookie deal. Rodgers also took over in his fourth year, but at that time there was not a fifth-year option in contracts of first-round picks, so Rodgers entered his first season as the starter in the final year of his original contract.

The Packers appear headed for a top-10 draft pick this offseason unless they can turn things around beginning with Sunday’s game against the Rams. Tuesday’s trade of Rasul Douglas to the Bills along with a fifth-round pick got them a 2024 third-round pick in return. It means the Packers currently own five picks in the first three rounds, which gives them plenty of flexibility if they need to pick another quarterback.

“I really do believe in the group in that building and the coaching staff, and I think big things are ahead,” Gutekunst said. “It’s just going, we’ve got to get through these things. We’ve got to learn from ’em. We’ve got to stay grounded through the process, and if we do that, I think the results will come.”