Packers Rumors: Jordan Love Expected to Get Contract to be Among Highest-Paid NFL QBs

Heading into the 2023 offseason, the Green Bay Packers still weren't sure whether Jordan Love was their long-term solution at quarterback. One year later, the 2020 first-round pick might be looking at a massive payday that would place him among the NFL's highest-paid quarterbacks.

ESPN's Adam Schefter noted Sunday on SportsCenter that Love isn't eligible to sign a new contract until May since that's when he and the Packers renegotiated his deal last offseason.

"But he's going to want to get a deal done; they're going to want to get a deal done," Schefter reported. "And if and when they both get together to get that deal done in May, or shortly thereafter, it is expected to make him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the game because that's the way that he played and they're going to want to lock him up and make sure that he's not leaving Green Bay."

Green Bay didn't assume the full fifth-year option on Love's rookie contract, a sign of how he was totally unproven as a starter in the NFL. Even a few weeks into the season, general manager Brian Gutekunst said the jury remained out and that the 25-year-old had "a very important 10 games" ahead in his evaluation.

Now, the uncertainty with Love is a thing of the past. Over the Packers' final nine games, he threw for 2,439 yards, 20 touchdowns and just three interceptions. His 62.1 QBR for the year was ninth-best among qualified quarterbacks.

Love was even better in the postseason, throwing for 466 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions in two games. The pick he threw to seal Green Bay's fate Saturday against the San Francisco 49ers shouldn't obscure what else he did in the playoffs.

Daniel Jones is an example of the dangers in giving a QB a market-level extension on the basis of one good season. The four-year, $160 million pact he signed with the New York Giants already looks like a massive overpay.

Unlike with Love, though, there was a strong body of work pointing toward the notion Jones is an average, perhaps even below-average, quarterback who hit his ceiling in 2022.

Love needed time to grow into the starting role, at one point throwing eight interceptions over a five-game stretch. Once he found his footing, though, he looked every bit like a franchise QB.

Entering the $50 million club alongside the Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow, Los Angeles Chargers' Justin Herbert, Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson and Philadelphia Eagles' Jalen Hurts is probably out of the question for the Green Bay star.

Based on the going rate for quarterbacks, an average salary starting at $40 million might be a reasonable demand for Love and his agents.