The Green Bay Packers made a big move this offseason, trading Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets to open the door for Jordan Love to take over as the team’s starting quarterback. After sitting and learning behind Rodgers for three years, it is now Love’s time to shine.
However, just because they aren’t teammates anymore doesn’t mean that Rodgers won’t be supporting his old protege. Love was happy to reveal that Rodgers sent him a message of encouragement the night before he was set to take the field as the Packers’ starter for the first time.
“Just be yourself. Have fun. Enjoy it,” was the text message that Rodgers sent to Love. Heading into his first practice on Wednesday, the Utah State product was trying to heed the words of the future Hall of Famer.
“It’s obviously my time now, and he just said be yourself,” Love said after practice. “That’s all you can do. That’s kind of been the message from everybody, is be yourself. Don’t try to be anybody else. Don’t try to be Aaron, things like that. Just be yourself, and that’s kind of what I’m trying to do.”
Tuesday night wasn’t the first time that the former Packers teammates were in touch. Shortly after Rodgers was traded from Green Bay to the New York Jets, he sent well wishes to Love and let him know that he is always there for Love should he need it.
“Those are things we’ve talked about during the time we were both here together,” Love said. “We kind of talked about how it was for him, obviously Brett [Favre] leaving and things like that, his transition. Obviously, he said it was hard as well. It’s never easy. But he just kind of put his head down and worked. Made his own name for himself. That’s kind of the same thing I’m trying to do right now for myself.”
The first day of practice for Love was filled with ups and downs. That isn’t too surprising, as things will always be bumpy when people are filling new roles. Also, the inexperience of the offense will create some challenges going up against an experienced and talented Packers defense.
That will only help Love in his development as he will constantly be practicing against what could be one of the best defenses in the NFL. All of those reps are important for Love, but the most important thing is to heed the advice Rodgers gave him. Love has some big shoes to fill, but he needs to create his own path to replacing a legend, just as Rodgers did when taking over for Brett Favre.
