The Green Bay Packers and quarterback Jordan Love have agreed to a four-year, $220 million contract extension, league sources reported Friday. The deal also features a record $75 million signing bonus and $155 million in recent guarantees, making Love the highest-paid NFL quarterback.
Love's recent contract puts him on par with Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow, who all make $55 million per yr, making him the highest-paid quarterbacks on an annual basis, above quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa ($53.1 million per yr), Jared Goff ($53 million per yr), Justin Herbert ($52.5 million per yr) and Lamar Jackson ($52 million per yr).
The agreement also ends Love's “delay,” because the quarterback had decided to miss practice until he received a brand new contract. Love reported to training camp on time and can take part in other team activities outside of practice.
Love participated in all offseason activities even and not using a recent contract, however the quarterback's representative informed the Packers shortly before the beginning of coaching camp that he wouldn’t practice.
“I think we’re close,” Packers GM Brian Gutekunst said initially of coaching camp.
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Paying Jordan Love that much is an enormous risk that the Packers are not any stranger to with quarterbacks.
Love, 25, was entering the ultimate yr of his contract and is coming off a successful first season during which he helped the Packers to a surprise appearance within the divisional round of the playoffs, throwing for 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 17 regular-season games.
He is now entering his second season because the Packers' starter after 4 years behind current New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The Packers and Love agreed to a one-year contract extension before last season that tied the quarterback to the Green Bay Packers only through next yr. That extension was value as much as $22.5 million, with $13.5 million of that fully guaranteed.
Why Green Bay made this deal
The Packers shocked the NFL once they traded up in the primary round in 2020 to draft Love, though Rodgers still had 4 years left on his contract. Love waited three years behind Rodgers, and the long game paid off for him, Gutekunst and the organization, which believed in its recent franchise quarterback.
The Packers hope Love can follow within the footsteps of Brett Favre and Rodgers and provides them three consecutive quarterbacks within the Hall of Fame. However, Love has rather a lot to perform to achieve that goal after his breakout freshman yr during which he was arguably the NFL's best quarterback through the second half of the regular season.
In his first three years within the NFL, Love began only one game, a Week 9 loss to the Chiefs in 2021 that got here on short notice after Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19. Love struggled under Kansas City's relentless pressure, because the Packers scored only once in a 13-7 loss, but Gutekunst was impressed with Love's ability to persevere despite adversity. After watching Love behind the scenes and in practice for 3 years, the Packers felt comfortable enough handy the reins of the offense to an untested 24-year-old.
Their decision has paid off, and the Green Bay Packers appear to have hit the jackpot again: They have signed a player who’s now considered one of the highest-paid players in NFL history. —
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