QB Jordan Love picking up Packers offense by doing exactly what Aaron Rodgers did
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Slowly, the flashbacks are emerging on the Green Bay Packers' practice field. They aren’t wearing pads this time of year – no tackling, no blocking, no live pass rush – so the comparisons aren't exactly apples to apples.
Jordan Love’s voice broke the quiet before a snap during team drills during Wednesday’s organized team activities session, getting players from both sides of the line of scrimmage to flinch. It was the kind of inflection often heard on this practice field. Usually, it comes from Aaron Rodgers’ hard count.
Soon after, Love threw what could be described as a Rodgers-style interception. With nobody open downfield, the second-year quarterback found his checkdown receiver running underneath across the middle. His pass to DeAndre Thompkins slipped through the rookie receiver’s hands like soap, deflecting directly to cornerback Kabion Ento. How many of the 89 career interceptions from Rodgers have bounced off his receiver’s hands?
But the most promising connection between Love this offseason and Rodgers last year might be where he’s throwing. The first visible sign of how well Rodgers had learned coach Matt LaFleur’s offense when camp opened last summer was the quarterback’s willingness to target checkdowns. For years, Rodgers appeared reluctant to throw underneath. Suddenly, the MVP was taking what defenses gave him.
That would be the best description for how Love handled the offense in his first two weeks of OTAs as the Packers' top quarterback in Rodgers’ absence. He has targeted his checkdown receiver in abundance, taking what the defense gives.
“I think a lot of it is just what you’re presented from a defensive perspective,” LaFleur said. “Certainly, if the defense isn’t willing to let you throw it over their head, then you have to be willing to take those checkdowns. I think sometimes if you’re doing it a lot, a lot of quarterbacks might get frustrated and start to press. We just want him to read each play as its own entity, and don’t predetermine anything. Just read with your feet, go through your progression, and ultimately get the completion to whoever the open guy is.”
It’s how Rodgers built his third MVP season – throwing to the open guy. Last fall, Rodgers remarked Packers receivers were not only wide open, but wide open even by “college” standards in LaFleur’s scheme. His job was simply to throw it to the right guy.
RANKING ALL 31 OPTIONS: Where could Aaron Rodgers land if he splits with Packers?
TOM SILVERSTEIN: Packers must weigh risk vs. reward of mending fences with Aaron Rodgers
NFL CALENDAR HITS JUNE 1: What key date could mean for Aaron Rodgers and Julio Jones
In his red, untouchable jersey, Love has a safe laboratory to develop this offseason. The Packers don’t know how he’ll handle live snaps, because he hasn’t played any. They can’t know whether he’ll make the clutch, contested throw on an NFL field, because he hasn’t been in that situation. Right now, the priority is for Love to become more comfortable in the offense, mastering it the way an NFL quarterback must.
“He had limited reps last year,” LaFleur said, “and some of these plays that we’re asking him to go out there and execute, he may have ran only once or twice throughout the course of the preseason. So I just think there’s a lot of learning going on right now, and we want to get it to a point where he’s not out there thinking about his footwork, he’s not thinking about the timing. It’s just automatic, and he can go out there and focus on the little details of maybe some of the looks the defense is presenting him with.”
Love’s growing comfort in the offense has been noticeable. AJ Dillon, the second-rounder picked after Love last spring, knows the quarterback as well as anyone on the team. Dillon trained with Love before last year’s draft. They signed to the same agency. They were picked consecutively by the same team, entering the same offense, relying on each other to learn the same playbook.
“That’s my guy,” Dillon said.
Dillon admits he saw nerves from his guy when these OTAs began. Love would have been under immense pressure under ideal circumstances, which these are not. Gradually, those nerves have melted away, Dillon said.
“You can see him getting more comfortable,” Dillon said. “It’s really good to see. He’s my good friend, so to see him going out there from the first OTA practice where he’s kind of a little nervous to now, scrambling and making really good passes and stuff like that, it’s really cool to see him having fun and doing what he was brought here to do.”
Love was brought here to be the Packers' quarterback, eventually. Teams don’t trade up in the first round to select quarterbacks they don’t expect to play. Even teams with a future Hall of Famer on their depth chart.
The Packers would like that eventuality to be delayed. They’ve assured Rodgers privately and publicly his return is desired. The next date that could give any indication of Rodgers’ plans is Tuesday when the Packers open their minicamp. Unlike OTAs, which are voluntary, minicamp attendance is deemed mandatory under the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the players association. Asked Wednesday if he had any indication whether Rodgers planned to report for minicamp, LaFleur declined to say he had.
Rodgers is still communicating with teammates. Tight end Robert Tonyan said he was recently in contact with his quarterback.
“He is one of my friends,” Tonyan smiled, wryly. “So I like to talk to him. We’re just checking in on each other just in the offseason like I would check on any of my friends, or he would check on any of his friends. Just making sure we’re doing OK, and just seeing how our personal lives are going. We keep business out of it. I think a lot of us keep business out of our friendships, because like we know in this league, anything can happen at any time, any person. So I think just keeping a friendship strictly personal is the best in our field of work.”
Meanwhile, the on-field business resumes without Rodgers. The Packers are pouring all their focus into developing Love, not just because he might play this fall, but because he is a first-round pick and the likely future of their quarterback position.
Quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy said Thursday that Love is “light years” ahead of last year when it comes to understanding the offense. Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said it’s good Love is targeting his checkdowns, because it shows his familiarity with the offense and comfortability reading the defense. In time, the deep shots will come.
“You don’t want to force it,” Hackett said, “but I think you always want to understand when it’s open and where you can still find a completion. We always want to get completions and be efficient and move the ball down the field, but we want to be able to take advantage of the shots down the field. I think understanding those two different things are with time. I think right now, it’s not truly, real football. It’s practice, and there’s no pads.
“So I think everybody plays it a little bit different. So I think him making those good decisions is so critical, and it’s something he is developing in and he’s getting better at, and that just needs to continue.”