Is Love the Future? Packers GM Gutekunst Struggling With Evaluation

Speaking to reporters for the first time since the end of training camp, Green Bay Packers GM Brian Gutekunst talked in depth about the growth of first-year starting QB Jordan Love.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In the 2020 NFL Draft, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst made the controversial and franchise-altering decision to draft Jordan Love in the first round.

On Wednesday, seven games into Love’s run as the starting quarterback and a little less than six months before the start of the 2024 NFL Draft, Gutekunst was taking a wait-and-see view of Love’s future.

“We’re evaluating a first-year player, if that makes sense,” Gutekunst said. “Because he’s really had his first chance to go out there and game plan week-in and week-out so, to me, right now, it’s looking at the small victories, the small improvements and making sure we’re moving forward. If that doesn’t, if that stops happening, then there’s problems. But, right now, I think we’re seeing little things.”

Given their near-identical paths, it’s interesting to compare Halloween 2008 to Halloween 2023.

Following his seventh career start in 2008 and with one more year under contract, Aaron Rodgers was given a huge contract extension. Following his seventh start in 2023 and with one more year under contract, Gutekunst didn’t provide the slightest inkling that Love is the long-term answer.

That’s important because another franchise-altering decision is on the horizon.

If the Packers, losers of four in a row, continue their losing ways, they could be in position to draft their next quarterback. Or, if Love starts making noticeable progress, the team will be looking to give him that extension.

“There will be time for that,” Gutekunst said when posed the big-picture scenario. “I think right now, we’re worried about beating the Rams. That’s the most important thing. We have a lot of faith in Jordan. We’ve got to get the offense playing better and, when that does, those things will take of themselves. But right now, we’re really focused on the Rams.”

Is Jordan Love the quarterback of the future for the Packers? :: Photo by Wm. Glasheen/USA Today Sports Images

For now, the biggest problem with Love’s evaluation is the ability to make that evaluation in the first place. The passing game has been dysfunctional, the byproduct of a young quarterback throwing to a bunch of young receivers. The so-called veterans, Christian Watson and Rome Doubs, haven’t been productive enough. The rookies have made too many mistakes.

“A little up and down, like our entire offense, right?” Gutekunst said of Love’s first seven starts. “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. (We) believe in that group of guys and expect better results coming.”

Of 33 qualifying quarterbacks, Love is 28th in passer rating and 32nd in completion percentage. After opening with six touchdown passes and zero interceptions in the first two games, he’s thrown five touchdowns but eight interceptions the last five games.

Love hasn’t been good enough – he’s been too inaccurate and too indecisive – but neither has the supporting cast that Gutekunst assembled. Dropped passes and mental errors have tormented the team, especially in the first half, with Green Bay managing three field goals over their last five games.

“Really, it’s not just evaluating the quarterback, but everything, all the players,” Gutekunst said. “And when the group as a whole is not functioning the way it should function, then it’s hard to evaluate anybody. 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.”

While Love deserves his share of the blame for the offense’s chronic problems – five consecutive games of 20 points or less – Gutekunst likes how Love is leading the team, dealing with adversity and learning from mistakes.

Still, so long as the rest of the offense is struggle, making the critical evaluation will be difficult. Gutekunst said it’s possible – if not ideal – that the Packers will need to see Love for all 17 games before feeling comfortable with his future.

“We’ve got 10 games left,” Gutekunst said. “These are going to be very important 10 games. I think he’s done a lot of really good things. 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.”

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