Green Bay Packers: Is Jordan Love already a bust?

If the Green Bay Packers’ biggest fears are realized and Aaron Rodgers is dealt away, will Jordan Love rise or fall to the occasion?

Since the eve of the 2021 NFL Draft, it has been open season on the Green Bay Packers after it was reported that NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers told multiple people within the organization he would not like to return to the team for the upcoming season.

The height of tensions between the future hall of fame player and the front office was reached when general manager Brian Gutekunst traded up in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft to select Rodgers’ future successor in Jordan Love out of Utah State.

Time and again, the organization has failed to provide Rodgers with the tools necessary to acquire the Lombardi Trophy as they simply neglect skill positions on offense. The Packers are so seemingly spiteful that they have yet to draft a wide receiver in the first round of the draft since he became the starter full time.

Now, with an evergrowing fear that Rodgers may not return in the fall in the green and gold, eyes are shifting towards the status of second-year quarterback Jordan Love and whether or not he’s ready to even vie for the starting job in the event he needs to.

Based on reports, it seems more apparent that not only does general manager Brian Gutenkunst regret the means of acquiring Love the way he did but that Love isn’t panning out the way the team had expected.

When asked about the update on Jordan Love’s development and whether he could step up into the lineup, Gutekunst stated via The Athletic (subscription required), “He’s got a long way to go… We have a lot of confidence in his abilities, but it’s a little early for that.”

You don’t draft a quarterback who is a work-in-progress in the first round of the draft. Quarterbacks that go that early are expected to play in some capacity in their rookie season. Love, on the other hand, wasn’t even the backup to Rodgers.

He served as the third-string guy behind Tim Boyle and didn’t even suit up for games. Not only does that not happen when you draft a passer in Round 1, but that certainly does not happen when you trade up to get him. If Love was really worth the trade-up, he’d be ready to go Day 1 on the 2021 NFL season.

So to clarify the horrific state the Green Bay Packers are in, not only did they eagerly select Aaron Rodgers’ eventual replacement, but they did so without conferring it with him, thus creating an insurmountable amount of distrust and disgust towards the front office.

Now, on the brink of almost losing the face of the organization and sole reason as to why they’ve been relevant for the last decade, the quarterback that they so eagerly drafted isn’t turning out to be the guy the loved a year ago.

When you ask anyone with NFL knowledge or experience how long it takes to know if a quarterback has “it” or not, you’d be surprised to hear that it takes just one or two practices to know if he’s the real deal. The Packers need to work things out with Aaron because after a full year, they see that Love doesn’t have “it” and they’ve made a huge mistake that could cost them relevancy for the next decade or two.