Why Jordan Love is Worth Every Penny of Mega Contract

Highlights

Green Bay Packers QB Jordan Love joins elite company, tying Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence as the highest-paid players in the NFL.
Green Bay rightly invests their future in Love after a phenomenal run in 2023.
By committing to and building around their young QB, they’re correctly and confidently supporting their best player.

Hours after the Miami Dolphins signed Tua Tagovailoa to a contract extension, the Green Bay Packers made Jordan Love tied as the highest-paid NFL quarterback of all-time–for now.

According to Ian Rapoport, the Packers provided a four-year contract extension worth $220M, and Adam Schefter adds more info that the deal also includes a record $75M signing bonus and $155M in full guarantees. That gives him an AAV of $55M per year, tied for the most in the league.

In today’s NFL, you have to pay for your quarterback if you’ve got one. We’ve seen it repeatedly this offseason. Some argued the Jacksonville Jaguars overpaid for Trevor Lawrence considering he hasn’t really done much since entering the league as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

But what’s the alternative if you don’t cough up the money? Can you let another team slide in and sign your quarterback away via free agency? You can’t have that!

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Stand By Your… Quarterback

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Green Bay Packers QB Jordan Love vs. Dallas Cowboys NFC Wild Card Round — Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Blessed with the gift of hindsight, it’s easy to sit here now and tell the New York Giants that they shouldn’t have given Daniel Jones his big contract in March 2023. A four-year, $160M contract extension is a lot of money to give to a guy who more or less peaked during his rookie year.

You could also argue that the Giants haven’t done a great job of giving him much of a supporting cast. Even if you believe Justin Fields is the real deal and the Chicago Bears were fools to let him go, you also have to recognize Chicago had a golden opportunity to hit the reset button on a new rookie QB contract and add a ton of weapons and support around Caleb Williams.

If you have a guy who could be the guy, you have to treat him like the guy. If the Bears didn’t luck into the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, maybe Chicago would have doubled down with Fields and given him a chorus to sing with.

The error is to keep going back to the draft without properly addressing the rest of the offense. Green Bay has succeeded in giving their franchise a long runway to continue to build around Love by peppering their roster with young (and cheap) offensive talent. Are there any superstars in their offense? Not really, but they’ve strategically spent money on post-hype players like Josh Jacobs, who was signed to a thrifty $5.3M cap hit in 2024 when it made sense financially.

That kind of deal provides the flexibility to spend big on Love and other key pieces like DT Kenny Clark. After signing Love to a fifth-year option for the 2024 season, this big contract was the next move. Love was already sitting out training camp, and considering the strides made during the 2023 season, the former Utah St. signal-caller earned it.

Jordan Love 2023 Statistics
2023	Games	Record	Comp	Att	Comp %	Yards	TD	INT	Rating
Regular Season	17	9-8	372	579	64.2%	4,159	32	11	96.1
Postseason	2	1-1	37	55	67.3%	466	5	2	108.6

After a so-so start to the season and a 3-6 record, the Packers caught fire, winning six of their last eight contests. Then, after sticking it to the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card round with a definitive 48-32 win, Love came within three points of beating the NFC’s best team, the San Francisco 49ers, in a 24-21 Divisional round loss. And remember now, this 49ers team was nothing short of unstoppable to the point.

Giving Love a big contract is part of the game. Maybe he deserves his big contract more than guys like Tagovailoa, Lawrence or Jones. But if you aren’t investing in a quarterback, no matter how borderline his perceived talent, your team’s general manager is going to cough up a ton of draft picks to move up in the draft to have a chance at one of the good ones. Acting like you’ve got some crystal ball that GMs, scouts, executives and front offices do not is foolish. The league is full of parity, and wins, and losses are measured in inches–by links in the first-down chain. The mental calculus behind every decision is inherently imprecise.

After a Week 10 road loss to the Steelers, there were probably many analysts ready to say Love was a bum and his career in Green Bay was over. Well, Love got the last laugh and a nine-figure contract to go along with it.

All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference and contract info from Spotrac, unless stated otherwise.