Here’s What Gutekunst Said About Love’s Contract Extension

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love signed a four-year, $220 million contract on Saturday morning. Here’s what GM Brian Gutekunst had to say before Saturday’s practice at training camp.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, shown during OTAs, will make his training camp debut on Saturday after signing a $220 million contract extension. / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jordan Love’s four-year, $220 million contract extension with the Green Bay Packers – a record-tying $55.0 million per season – will obviously put stress on the salary cap. While that will add to general manager Brian Gutekunst’s challenge of building a competitive roster, it beats the alternative.

“Whenever you have these big contracts, there's some challenges,” Gutekunst said before Saturday’s practice at Packers training camp, “but we've dealt with that pretty much over the past however many years. So, that's part of it, but I'd rather be dealing with this challenge than some others, you know? So, you know, that will be part of it, and it'll be important that we continue to draft well and make good decisions along the way. But having that position stable and a guy who we know can perform at a high level, I'll take that every day.”

A first-round pick in 2020, Love struggled at Kansas City in his first NFL start in 2021 and was inconsistent and mistake-prone through his first nine starts in 2023. But when Love got rolling, he put up elite numbers in propelling the Packers to an unlikely playoff berth.

NFL contracts are based on projection. The projection of what’s to come – and, of course, an exploding salary cap – is why Love matched the Bengals’ Joe Burrow and the Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence, two players with longer resumes, for No. 1 in annual pay.

“I think what gives me comfort is I know he's going to work to be whatever he can be. The best version of himself,” Gutekunst said. “He's done that consistently since he's been here and to see him, his learning, his growth over that time, I don't expect him to change.

“I think that's the one thing I feel really good about is that because of the contract we're not going to ask him to do anything more than he's been doing. We want him to be himself and keep doing what he's been doing. If he does that then I really don't think there's a limit on what he can accomplish.”

Here are more highlights from Gutekunst:

On what he saw in Love and why he stuck with him:

“There’s no absolutes in this business, as you guys know. Certainly, he was a very gifted player. As we got to know him in the pre-draft process, who he was fit what we wanted here from a culture perspective. There was nothing he couldn’t do that we were going to ask of our quarterback. We knew he needed some time, he needed to develop and he needed to play.

“When you really get to know these guys is when you get them in your building, get them in your process and you get to see how they work and how they endear themselves to their teammates, how important it is to them. Since he’s been here, he’s checked all those boxes.

“I think as we’ve moved along and he progressed and we realized he was going to be the next guy, and then seeing how he handled that this past year becoming the guy, handling that pressure, coming out the other side of it, just gave us a lot of confidence that this is the guy that’s going to lead us into the future. I’m really excited about that.”

On Love’s start as a first-round pick to where he is today:

He made so many big plays early on. He had so many ‘wow’ throws. It just was the consistency. That’s the thing. As we got to know him, we realized it was just going to be a matter of time. Now, he’s got to do it. You can’t put it before that, but I think we saw that it was going to be a matter of, ‘OK, how long will it take him to become consistent in these things?’ But the talent, the overwhelming ability to throw the ball, move, athleticism, all that stuff was apparent right away.

“Again, it was a really weird transition into the NFL with COVID and no preseason. He was a guy that needed to play – he was a young player coming out of Utah State – and needed games under his belt and, early in his career, wasn’t able to get that. But, again, really proud of him for his focus, his determination. We got to certain moments during the course of his development where he was taking over with the 1s and then everything started to accelerate it. And then you realized that he just needed to play. We got through that part of that season early last year and everything took off.”

Was the small sample size of success a challenge in getting a contract done?

“I think that's circumstantial, right? That's just kind of the way things unfolded. But I guess if things would have unfolded differently, then it would have been different, but with the way he finished and the way he progressed, not only him but our whole football team, obviously he's the leader of our offense and our team.

“We did something last year to give us some time to get to this point, which again I think really helped us from that perspective get to this point we're at now. I think it's in my opinion the hardest position to play in all of sports and to have a guy that you really believe in and has done things the right way all the way through is a very comforting feeling.”

How eager was Love to start practicing?

“We talked every day, but i did feel there was an uncomfortable part of him that really wanted to be out there and be with his teammates. He’s always been that way. Even when he was sitting behind Aaron, I think he always wanted to be out there. The guy loves being out there. He loves football. He loves being out there with his teammates. This wasn’t easy for him. I think he very much believed it was the right thing to do for him and his family, and I respect that greatly. But this wasn’t easy for him.”

On Love’s growth as a leader.

“I think how steady he is, how consistent he is with his approach. He’s never really changed. He has excellent work ethic. He works at it. It’s very important to him. His teammates see that. I think whether it’s the ups and the downs and all the things you go through, he just doesn’t seem to flinch. He doesn’t seem to react. All these guys feel pressure at different times but he’s very focused to get through those things. He’s been through a lot of different kind of adversity whether it’s been off the field or on the field, and he has a very good way of handling those things and getting to the other side of them.”

More Green Bay Packers Training Camp News

Two stories on #Packers QB Jordan Love.
First, the contract extension.https://t.co/HrUWZzNukJ
Second, I was wrong.https://t.co/qTgHHnUZvO

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) July 27, 2024

Jordan Love: Record-setting extension | I was wrong 

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