It was eerily reminiscent of 2005. The Green Bay Packers had not just a star quarterback, but a Hall of Fame QB that had won multiple MVPs and a Super Bowl ring.
In 2005, Brett Favre was the quarterback. In 2020, it was Favre’s successor, Aaron Rodgers.
In this year’s draft, Green Bay traded up to grab Jordan Love, a quarterback out of Utah State.
Packer-backers around the state (and especially on Twitter) chastised general manager Brian Gutekunst and coach Matt LaFleur for the pick. I tried to think of their reasoning, and thought I was on to something. Then, nearly 24 hours later, those that lead the Green & Gold made me scratch my head even further.
First, let me get into why the pick MIGHT be OK. Not only does Love show more promise to be a valuable backup that Rodgers hasn’t had since Matt Flynn, he has the possible makings to be a very serviceable NFL quarterback. If he was by far the best player on Green Bay’s draft board, I can see making that pick, especially if Green Bay had him rated as a top-10 player (let alone top-15) and he was still sitting there at 26, moving up three spots to make that selection is of value-sense.
Surely Rodgers needs offensive weapons, like wide receivers or tight ends to attack defenses. Remember, Green Bay finished one game short of the Super Bowl this past season.
The second reason this pick works for me is simply where we are at as a nation and the world. No one knows how long the COVID-19 pandemic is going to last, and it is not a guarantee that the 2020 season will actually be played.
Unlike Major League Baseball, the NFL hasn’t decided what to do with contracts and salaries if the season were to be canceled. Baseball is allowing contracts that were set to expire after this season to still expire. No one is being kept on a contract without accruing a year of service.
If the NFL were to follow this step, that’s one less guaranteed year of their aging veteran QB. The other part of this equation is rookie contracts. If the season doesn’t happen as planned, teams could wait until February or March to sign their draft picks without losing them to the 2021 draft. First round picks are guaranteed 4-year deals, and successful players get their fifth-year option picked up by the team. Potentially, that means having Love under contract until the end of the 2026 season — when Rodgers would be 43 and quite possibly retired.
Third, perhaps Love was the last of the really good QBs available in this draft. Many other teams are looking for franchise quarterbacks, and in 2-3 years, some of the other current young first- or second-year QBs may not pan out; meaning that a talented gun, who has trained behind one of the best to ever don a football jersey, would be an enticing trade option.
And while I was thinking of all of this, the second round came and Green Bay took a running back, despite having two talented (well, one, Aaron Jones, is uber-talented) backs already on the roster.
In the third round, Green Bay went with a tight end from Cincinnati that ESPN had literally nothing in his player profile other than his name, school and position. No background information, no stats.
Maybe it was an oversight by ESPN. And maybe the picks will all work out.
Or maybe the Packers took a couple gambles that just won’t pay off like it did in 2005 when they hit the pigskin lottery.
— Adam Krebs is a reporter for the Times and also claimed QBs Dan LeFevour, Tony Pike and Brian Brohm to be future NFL MVPs. Adam can be reached at akrebs@themonroetimes.net.
