There isn’t a team in the NFL heading into 2023 training camp with as inexperienced of an offense as the Green Bay Packers are set to have. The Packers have youngsters up and down the roster on that side of the ball, but none will have more eyes on them than Jordan Love.
Love is taking over as the team’s starting quarterback, replacing Aaron Rodgers, who was traded to the New York Jets. Those are some big shoes to fill and a lot of people have already written the Packers off in 2023 because of that change.
While there are plenty of doubters outside of the organization, the polar opposite feeling is present within the organization. Everyone is confident that Love can get the job done, including his teammates.
Some of those teammates Love has been spending the last three years creating chemistry and cohesion with. While he is a starter for the first time, there will be a level of comfortability present that other first-time starters won’t possess.
That, in large part, is why running back AJ Dillon shared what was such a positive attitude the team has toward Love. While waiting three years to become the starter wasn’t likely what anyone had planned for Love, Dillon believes it has been a blessing in disguise.
“People trust him, people listen to him when he enters the huddle because it’s not like some new guy that just popped up just calling the shots,” Dillon said in an interview on SiriusXM Radio. “He definitely has all the intangibles. He’s earned the trust of the locker room. Guys respect him. Guys wanna play for him. Guys wanna help him as much as they wanna help themselves.
“Obviously nothing’s perfect in football, everybody knows that. But I think he’s got a lot of support and everybody would run through a wall for him.”
Dillon isn’t the first player to speak positively about Love and the impact that he has had on the locker room. Offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins also lauded Love recently while reflecting on the time that he spent playing with the legendary Rodgers.
While Love is lacking on-field regular season experience, Dillon believes he will be ready once he steps onto the field. He has a ton of practice reps and there is a chance that he will execute Matt LaFleur’s offense better than Rodgers did as he pushed back against some of what was being installed as he was already set in his ways.
“It’s one of those things where he has been in the system. You know you never go into a game preparing to be RB2 or QB2, you always go in preparing to be the starter, and whatever happens, you might get thrust into that role,” Dillon said. “And there’s a couple of times throughout his career already where he’s had to step up and he’s had to play, and he’s done a great job at it.” (H/T Coral Smith of NFL.com)
Love will be as prepared as any first-time starter ever has been. There will certainly be a few bumps in the road but the pieces are in place for him to find some long-term success in Green Bay with the talented young players around him.