Murphy Discusses Love Contract, State of Packers

After revealing the team’s $60 million profit, Green Bay Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy discussed the rise of Jordan Love and the potential of the team in 2024.

Bill Huber | Jul 16, 2024

Lambeau Field soaks in the July sun. Bill Huber/Packer Central /

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Quarterbacks will be part of the first wave of players reporting to Green Bay Packers training camp on Wednesday. Will Jordan Love have a contract to sign?

“That’s really Russ’ hand on that,” Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy said on Tuesday of Russ Ball, the team’s executive vice president, director of football operations and contract negotiator.

Murphy spoke in depth about the team’s rosy financial picture on Tuesday, then discussed football topics with Packer Central afterward.

With the first practice of training camp set for Monday, Love’s impending contract extension is becoming more of a pressing matter.

With the Packers coming off a strong finish to last season, the team no doubt wants to get the contract done to avoid any off-the-field distractions and to start building on the 2024 season as soon as possible. With more than $200 million at stake, Love might be advised to not practice until pen has been put to paper and signing bonus has hit his checking account.

Complicating matters is the soaring state of quarterback contracts.

The Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence, who wasn’t as good as Love in 2023, received an extension worth $55 million per season, which matched Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow for the highest in NFL history.

Should Love become the highest-paid player in the NFL with a resume consisting of a half-season of special play?

It’s a question that no doubt has been brought up during negotiations. Will it make agreeing to a contract a challenge?

“No, I think Russ has handled all different situations,” Murphy said. “I have a lot of confidence in Russ.”

When reminded it didn’t used to be that way – certainly not when Murphy was a player – Murphy punted on the answer and deflected to Ball, who falls under Murphy on the team’s decision-making pyramid.

“That’s really more dealt with on the football side,” he said.

Regardless, no matter how much the Packers might not want to open the team treasury to a quarterback with a limited resume of success, it’s going to happen.

As general manager Brian Gutekunst has said, when you have a good quarterback – and Love appears to be at least a good quarterback – you pay him and make everything else work around his contract.

Love led the Packers to six wins in their final eight games of the regular season last year by throwing 18 touchdown passes. At midseason, Love was last in the NFL in interceptions and next-to-last in completion percentage. During the second half of the season, Love was No. 1 in interceptions and third in completion percentage.

And that was before lighting up the Cowboys in the playoffs.

With one stunning stretch of games, the Packers might have done the impossible in going from Hall of Famer Brett Favre to future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers to Love.

“I think it’s a tribute to the organization that we had the foresight to draft him,” Murphy said. “There’s an old saying in the NFL: The best time to draft a quarterback is when you don’t need one. And then that in combination with having the patience to not play somebody right away before they’re ready. Both Aaron and Jordan sat for three years.

“I think being able to sit and watch for three years – Aaron watching Favre and Jordan watching Aaron – really pays dividends.”

With Love flanked by a young and potentially superb group of pass-catchers, the Packers are considered a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

Murphy wasn’t going to go that far, but he likes the direction of the team that Gutekunst rapidly rebuilt after Rodgers’ final season resulted in an 8-9 record.

“I don’t want to raise expectations too much, but it’s certainly quite a bit different than last year,” Murphy said of expectations. “Really pleased with the way Brian and Matt (LaFleur) have worked well together. I think Russ has been key.

“And the way the team came together, at the end of the season we were playing as well as anybody. Each year stands on its own though. I’m optimistic. I think we can have a very good team this year.”

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Published Jul 16, 2024|Modified Jul 16, 2024

BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packer Central, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.