The Green Bay Packers know that there will be a period of adjustment on the offensive side of the ball. Things are going to be a lot different with Jordan Love taking over as the starting quarterback in place of Aaron Rodgers.
While their experience levels are the biggest difference, everything down to how they throw the ball and their cadence will take time to adjust to. While the Packers have preached patience with Love all offseason, we now have an idea of how long that patience could last.
Packers President Mark Murphy recently revealed that he is using a similar thought process to evaluate Love as he did with Rodgers when he took over for Brett Farve. His answer to how long it will take to tell if Love is the guy or if the team will need to re-evaluate things at the position as early as next season will certainly surprise some people.
“I’m comparing it a little bit to Aaron’s first year as a starter, yeah, I’d say at least half a season to know,” Packers President Mark Murphy said Monday. “And I think even though we ended up with a losing record that year, but we saw enough of Aaron to know that we had something special.”
Rodgers’ situation is a little different as he signed an extension with the team about halfway through the 2008 season, his first as a starter. The Packers had seen enough to believe that Rodgers was their guy and it was a gamble that paid off.
Love, on the other hand, has already signed an extension with the team. That deal basically replaced the fifth-year option on his rookie contract, but will no doubt add more pressure on him to perform.
While moving on from a future Hall of Famer is never easy, the time was right to make such a move. The Packers can now begin rebuilding and evaluating for the future and they are hoping that Love is part of those plans.
He will have about half of the 2023 season to prove that to be the case. If not, depending on how things shake out this season, the Packers could be in the market for one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2024 NFL Draft.