National Football League

Waiting For Love

Updated Jul. 17, 2020 8:12 p.m. ET

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Aaron Rodgers has Love on his side. Now, he just needs to determine if the Packers still are.

Last season, under new head coach Matt LaFleur, the Packers went 13-3. Rodgers threw for 4,002 yards, 26 touchdowns, and only 4 interceptions, an incredible season by any team and quarterback standards.

Green Bay made it to NFC Championship before losing to the San Francisco 49ers, 37-20, ending their Super Bowl aspirations. On that night, Rodgers threw for 326 yards and 2 touchdowns, but also tossed 2 interceptions.

Fast forward to last week, and the Packers traded up in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft to select Utah State quarterback Jordan Love, a head-scratching move for many. Even though Green Bay was one win away from the Super Bowl, the Packers made a move to take a guy with tons of talent but who had a bit of an uneven resume during his college career.

His sophomore season in 2018 was wildly successful. He started all 13 games, passing for 3,567 yards, 32 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions. However, following a coaching change, Love’s stats dropped off significantly during his junior year, when he totaled 3,402 passing yards, 20 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.

So, between Love's clear need to continue developing and the Packers' Super Bowl aspirations with Rodgers at the helm, there's an obvious question: When can we expect Love to overtake Rodgers as the starter?

It could be sooner than we think. In Colin Cowherd's estimation, Rodgers' mercurial attitude has worn thin his welcome in Green Bay.

"Why would we pick on Aaron Rodgers? Everybody likes Green Bay. Nobody picked on Favre all the time ... Aaron's a pain in the butt. He's prickly, he can be arrogant, he's passive aggressive, he's an eye roller and a finger pointer."

Piggy-backing off of Cowherd's assertion, Skip Bayless believes Rodgers' clock is already ticking, considering his 2019 campaign left much to be desired.

He finished the regular season with a QBR of 50.4, ranking 20th among NFL quarterbacks.

"He's not what he used to be. Aaron Rodgers got to one Super Bowl, and won only one Super Bowl almost 10 years ago. I keep saying, 'Show me something.' He's 6-7 in the postseason since that one Super Bowl run."

On the other hand, Rodgers himself was drafted to begin his career as a backup to Brett Favre, and Ryan Clark argues that Rodgers could be the mentor Love that Favre was not to Rodgers.

"It's time for him to put on his happy face and prove all of us wrong, to be the mentor that Brett Farve never was. To show this guy that we see sometimes in post game press conferences – who is a little disgruntled, who is a little uninspiring, can be a guy that inspires because that is the type of talent that Aaron Rodgers has."

Adam Schefter thinks Green Bay's goal is exactly that – to push Rodgers into a situation where he can push Love.

"They can take their time grooming Jordan Love. He's 21 years old – they don't have to rush him along. They will want to have Aaron Rodgers going along playing for the next couple years ... there's no rush right now."

So, what's next for Green Bay's fearless leader?

Will he embrace the mentorship role? Or will he battle to not be replaced?

Or, is there a third option on the table?!

Your guess is as good as ours, but keep this in mind. As Jay Glazer pointed out the night the Packers drafted Love, Rodgers' contract with Green Bay makes trading him this season all but impossible. In that scenario, the team would take a massive $29.5 million cap hit — with Rodgers counting for over $51 million in dead cap space. Even next year, trading Rodgers would count for $31.6 million in dead cap space, then $17.2 million in 2022 (via Spotrac).

That means the earliest Green Bay could realistically move on from their star QB would be the 2021 offseason, with 2022 far more likely.

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