Packers OC Discusses The Potential Role For QB Jordan Love

The Green Bay Packers stunned many when they traded up to take Utah State quarterback Jordan Love in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft. Aaron Rodgers is still the Packers’ starter, but it is officially okay to wonder when Love’s time might come.

Green Bay is clearly hoping it won’t be in 2020, at least on a full-time basis. The Packers are coming off a 13-3 season and NFC title game appearance, and if the team is to get over the hump and reach the Super Bowl this year, it needs Rodgers to play well.

However, we’ve seen teams go about integrating their young QBs into the system in different ways. Most recently, the Baltimore Ravens utilized Lamar Jackson in special packages as a rookie, and the New Orleans Saints have turned Taysom Hill into one of the league’s most useful gimmick players.

Speaking with the media late last week, Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett was asked about Love’s potential role this upcoming season. Right now, it is a little too soon to make that call.

“I think everything’s still so early to tell,” Hackett said, via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “Haven’t even really gotten to sit in a meeting room at Lambeau. I haven’t gotten to talk with him much or work face to face. I think there’s so much yet to be seen. You never know. Anything can happen.”

Hackett also addressed the delicate balance of emphasizing Rodgers as the starter while also preparing Love for the future and to be ready in an instant if Rodgers goes down.

“The coaches’ world is always game by game,” Hackett said. “Every single thing that we look at, we are always looking to try to accomplish that win each week. That’s the only thing that matters to us. The future is something that might be in the back of our mind, but we always live in the moment. That’s usually how we’re all judged.

“But at the same time, anything can happen at any moment within a game, that’s what makes the same so much fun. So you’ve got to prepare everybody like they’re a starter and they’ve got to go in there and play. So it’s about winning. It’s about Aaron Rodgers going out there and winning a football game and then Jordan’s going to just have to continually learn and continue to be a good sponge.”

In three seasons at Utah State, Love threw for 8,600 yards, 60 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. He also rushed for 403 yards and nine scores.

Currently, Rodgers is under contract for the next four seasons, but the Packers could opt to deal or cut him at some point if they feel the time is right to turn over the reins to Love.