Latest news with #JordanLove
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How can Jordan Love improve in 2025?
Yahoo Sports NFL analyst Nate Tice, fantasy analyst Nate Tice and NFL writer Charles McDonald's discuss what makes the Packers quarterback among the top-10 at his position in the NFL and where he can grow this coming season. Hear the full conversation on 'Football 301' - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript Matt, why'd you throw in Jordan Love in there? Advertisement Uh, optimism, they finally forgot the receiver room. Yeah, hi, I'm Matthew Golden. Uh, what do you want to see out Jordan Love maybe this year that has has him in your top 10. I mean, I just think Jordan Love is a really fun player. Um, he's a, he's a daring quarterback. He's a little bit of I don't want to say like a maybe like a Diet Coke version of, uh, Matthew Stafford at his best, and I think he also could tap into a little bit more as just a mobile quarterback too. I think, like, not that he's ever gonna be Lamar Jackson or Jayden Daniels or, you know, Josh Allen or something like that, but I think they could lean into his mobility a little bit more, uh, when he is healthier, hopefully here, uh, in 2025 and beyond when he was in 2024. Advertisement So altogether it just kind of felt like at times the Packers passing game. Never, it was like a little bit of a star crossed lovers thing. They just never quite got the timing right, whether it was wide receivers were injured or Jordan Love was injured or offensive line was banged up, especially there towards the end of the season. I am pretty confident just in the system overall, but especially just love as a player. I think he, arm talent wise, he can be up there with any of these top players. If he just smooths out like from the decision-making standpoint, I definitely could see him jumping up a tier in this list. Advertisement I just love big game hunters. I think last year he, he just has some moments where he's, he's, this is his DNA. He is gonna make some of the stupidest decisions, but then he's gonna act like it never happened, and he'll come back on the next series on the first play and rip one of the best throws you'll ever see in your life. And I mean that, and I don't just mean like, oh, very excellent, I mean. Some of the best throws I've ever seen on film. Um, but he also has some of the worst throws I've ever seen on film and worst decision. I love that though, like, and I think he's still so young, still learning this, getting in an environment that's just adding layers, you can see his comfort level. Advertisement Um, I always thought when his first year starting, full-time starting was He made the rhythm his own. Not everyone's gonna have the same dropback and the same timing. It's just, you know, hopefully you get the ball out on time, but you could see his confidence growing where he's adding that extra little bounce and it was just like, but it was his own timing. And, and it's just really cool to see a young guy kind of do that. Like you could see it click for him. Um, I thought last year was kind of a roller coaster, but the highs were still so high. And this guy can complete all the throws I want to see. Advertisement So it's just, I'm still staying bullish on him. I'm not including him in my top five like I did on a quarterback draft last year, where I, but that was also a future 34 years with contracts and everything, but I am still bullish on him for 2025 and really beyond.
New York Times
3 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Packers' Matt LaFleur rejects notion that Jordan Love regressed in 2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Aaron Rodgers led the Packers to a Super Bowl title in his third season as a starter back in 2010. Fifteen years later, Jordan Love is entering his third season as Green Bay's starting quarterback. And though general manager Brian Gutekunst called for more urgency inside the building ahead of a season in which he thinks it's time the Packers compete for a Super Bowl ring, it's fair to assume he wasn't mandating Love wins Super Bowl MVP like Rodgers did at age 27 (Love turns 27 in November). Advertisement Even so, after a divisional-round exit and a wild-card loss in his first two seasons starting, Love has his sights set as high as Rodgers took the Packers, even if he's not comparing his career trajectory to that of arguably the best player in franchise history. 'You talk about Super Bowl, that's the goal for us,' Love said on Wednesday after OTA practice. 'We talked about that last year, and that's the same message this year. We're trying to win a Super Bowl. I'm definitely trying to be that guy to be able to take this team and lead them to that. 'When you talk about Aaron and what he did in his third year, I never try to compare because that's so hard to do. There's so many different situations that go on, but at the end of the day, I've been here — going on Year 6, going on my third year playing. Everything is right there in front of us and for this team. It's just about going out there, executing, but the goal is a Super Bowl. That's the mindset we have, and we're going to put in the work to be able to hopefully get there.' Jordan Love: 'You talk about Super Bowl, that's the goal for us … I'm definitely trying to be that guy to be able to take this team and lead them to that. When you talk about Aaron and what he did in his third year, I never try and compare because that's so hard to do.' — Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) May 28, 2025 Love probably needs to play like a $220 million quarterback for the Packers to reach the sport's pinnacle. And not only is this a pivotal season for the Packers to get over the playoff hump, but you also could argue it's a pivotal season for Love to prove he's more the 2023 Jordan Love than the 2024 version. However, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur doesn't ascribe to the notion that Love regressed from Year 1 to Year 2 as the starter. Advertisement In his first season at the helm of Green Bay's offense, Love began slowly but played like an NFL MVP in the second half of the season. Love threw 18 touchdowns to one interception in the final eight games of the 2023 regular season and finished with 4,159 yards, 32 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. Because of such a strong finish, perhaps the bar was set unreasonably high for Love entering his second season, at least outside the team. His 2024 season was rocky — he threw for 3,389 yards, 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in the regular season. But there was a sprained MCL in Week 1, a sprained groin in Week 8, an inability to get into a practice rhythm because of injury until the second half of the season and drops (according to TruMedia, the Packers ranked 27th in the NFL with 29 drops). Love's footwork and decision-making weren't always the best, but LaFleur sounds like he believes in his defense of Love. 'I think there's like a narrative out there for whatever reason that he wasn't as productive as the year before,' LaFleur said. 'Well, he missed significant time. He missed the better of three games. Really, it was Indy. It was Tennessee. He went out in Jacksonville and then he went out in Chicago. So, you know, three games is a significant amount of time and you're not going to produce as much from a numbers perspective … and also, let's be honest — we've talked about this — we did have a lot of drops last year. 'So there's other circumstances that play into it. I think all in all, everybody's going to be better, though.' Added wide receiver Jayden Reed, who tied for fifth in the NFL with 10 drops: 'I think (Love) does a great job. We've just got to help him, rally around him and just be better for him.' Something LaFleur didn't mention Wednesday in defense of Love's 2024 performance is that the Packers leaned more on the run than in any of LaFleur's prior five seasons as head coach. Love didn't have to carry the team with his right arm like he might've had to in the second half of 2023. The head coach said late in the season that Love was in a stretch of playing the best football of his career, even better than the final eight games of the regular season prior. Last season didn't finish with Love playing that way, and he must fine-tune a couple of things, footwork perhaps atop that list, to once again resemble a quarterback who can help the Packers, not necessarily carry them, to the promised land. Advertisement Presented Wednesday with the notion that he took a step back in 2024, Love offered as much of an animated response as the calm, cool and collected quarterback has given. 'I mean, what is a step back is what I'd ask?' he said. 'You know what I mean? Everybody has different opinions, things like that. You gotta block that stuff out. It's all about the goals of the team at the end of the day. I'd say we won more games than we did the year before. That's why I ask people, what is a step back? 'Like I said, everybody has opinions, things like that. Try to block that out and focus on doing me and being the best player I can be, like I've talked about, and go forward. But at the end of the day, personal stats, things like that, that's all in the back. You gotta focus on the goals of the team, first and foremost.' The Packers' goal is a Super Bowl, but they first must prove they've reached the same tier as the NFC's elite. Last season, they went 11-6 but finished third in the NFC North. They went 0-5 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings — the three NFC teams with better regular-season records — before losing again to Philadelphia in the playoffs. The Packers won't have to wait long this season to show that the gap is closed. They host the Lions in Week 1. If they win, maybe then we can realistically discuss Love's wedding day this summer not being the only time he gets a ring.
USA Today
4 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Packers QB Jordan Love after lobbed first pitch at Brewers game: 'Next pitch will be better'
Packers QB Jordan Love after lobbed first pitch at Brewers game: 'Next pitch will be better' The ability to throw a football at the professional level doesn't automatically make one good at throwing a baseball, as Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love found out while throwing out the first pitch before the Milwaukee Brewers home game on Memorial Day this week. Love said he didn't give himself any warmup tosses and ended up just throwing the pitch like a football, which turned his thrown into more of a lob than a pitch. The Packers quarterback vowed his next first pitch would be better. "First pitch, it made it there. A little bit of a lob pass. Threw it like a football," Love said after Wednesday's OTA session. "Definitely need to get some more experience throwing a baseball. Get a little warmup next time, and I'll be good. Next pitch will be better." A warmup might have helped -- Love said he got caught up talking with players and Brewers staff before the pitch on Monday, so he ended up on the mound at American Family Field without any prior practice. The throw -- caught by Brewers star Christian Yelich -- ended up slow and high and out of the zone. In fact, Yelich had to get out of his catcher's stance to make the catch. Love admitted it's "been a while" since he's thrown a baseball. He said he stopped playing baseball in middle school. "I'm just happy I got it there, didn't skip it," Love said. Here's the pitch from American Family Field: While the throwing mechanics for football and baseball are similar, pitching a baseball typically requires a bigger stride and longer arm path. As the video shows, Love took a short stride, threw the ball completely over the top and released early, resulting in a slow, lobbed pitch. But like Love said, at least he didn't skip the throw or completely miss the target. At the end of the day, the ball ended up in the catcher's glove. Disaster averted for the Packers quarterback. We'll give this first pitch a 3/10, but it ranks nowhere near the worst of all time. Hopefully, Love gets another chance -- at a Brewers game as the Packers quarterback -- to make amends.
Forbes
4 days ago
- General
- Forbes
Urgency Is The Buzzword For The 2025 Green Bay Packers
Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers want to play with more urgency in 2025. It's tough to measure the urgency of a football team in May. Players don't have pads on. There is no live tackling, or really, any contact whatsoever. As Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper said Wednesday, 'It sucks that we've got to go like 50% right now.' Yes, in many ways Organized Team Activities are the epitome of fake football. Still, there's still plenty that teams can accomplish. And the Packers are doing everything possible to attack the offseason with an urgency that was called into question when the 2024 season ended. Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst first dropped the U-word — urgency — in mid-January, four days after the Packers' 22-10 loss to Philadelphia in an NFC Wild Card game. 'I think for me, the thing that's been on my mind as we concluded this season is we need to continue to ramp up our sense of urgency,' Gutekunst said that day. 'If I'm looking at one thing, that would be it.' Now, four-plus months later, that word still seemed to be ringing in many of the Packers' heads as OTA's rolled along this week. 'You feel the urgency for sure,' Packers Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs said. 'You feel a lot of the younger guys growing up, you can definitely feel them coming into their own. You feel the urgency just from the way the guys are going about practicing and the details and the way they're on top of everything.' Cooper, Green Bay's rising second-year linebacker, agreed. 'As soon as we start ball, as soon as we enter this building, everything we try and do we try and have urgency,' he said. 'Everything we do.' With good reason. Green Bay played much of the 2024 campaign like lions, then exited like lambs. The Packers were 6-2, 9-3 and 11-4 at various points last year and were still in the mix for big things. Then, Green Bay lost its final three games in a collapse that was almost as surprising as it was disappointing. First came a 27-25 setback at Minnesota in a game Green Bay trailed, 20-3 and 27-10 before two late touchdowns made the final score both respectable and deceptive. Then, NFC North doormat Chicago came to Green Bay with nothing on the line and rallied for an improbable 24-22 win. That snapped the Packers' 11-game winning streak over the Bears, and also marked the first time Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur lost a game to his neighbors to the south. Finally came a dreadful offensive performance in Philadelphia, where the Packers lost the turnover battle, 4-0, and quarterback Jordan Love had a passer rating of 41.5 — his second-lowest since becoming the starter in 2023. Some Packers tried taking consolation in the fact they held the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles to their fewest points of the postseason. But don't forget, if Philadelphia running back Saquon Barkley hadn't laid down late in the game to keep the clock running, he was on his way to a 76-yard TD scamper that would have made the final score much worse. When the season ended, LaFleur said he wanted Love to be more vocal in 2025. So far, the Packers' sixth-year quarterback has taken that message to heart. 'That's always something I'm trying to improve on, get better at, just be more comfortable being a vocal leader,' Love said. 'But it's definitely something I've put a lot of work in since I've been here, trying to step out of my comfort zone and speak up. I think the more comfortable you get with the guys, the easier that all becomes.' Gutekunst also threw the 'urgency' log on the fire, knowing it's time for many in this group to sink or swim. Green Bay had the youngest roster in the NFL each the past two seasons. The 2023 Packers — with an average age of 25 years, 214 days — were the youngest team to win a playoff game since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger. In many ways, reaching the postseason the first two years after trading Aaron Rodgers was a pleasant surprise. Now, anything shy of a deep postseason run would be remarkably disappointing. 'Like, it's time,' Jacobs said. 'It's time. You know?' It seems like everyone in the building knows. The Packers' extremely strong 2022 and 2023 draft classes that included players such as Quay Walker, Zach Tom, Devonte Wyatt, Sean Rhyan, Rasheed Walker, Romeo Doubs, Tucker Kraft, Jayden Reed and Lukas Van Ness are just hitting their prime. Several of those same players, though, are coming up on contract years after this season or the 2026 campaign. That means the roster will look dramatically different in a year or two. So for a large number of players — and the 2025 Packers — this is undoubtedly a 'prove it' season. 'With this type of locker room, where we've got pieces all over the board, offense and defense, it just makes that urgency get a little bit more intense, because the only thing that can really stop us is us,' Jacobs said. 'If we lock in on the things we need to do, if we put the work in, then we'll reap the benefits.' Pro Bowl safety Xavier McKinney didn't mince words when asked where he thinks the 2025 Packers can eventually wind up. 'No. 1. It's that simple,' McKinney said. 'I'm just going to put it out there right now. That's what we're aiming for.' A lot more urgency figures to go a long way — even if it is only May.
Newsweek
4 days ago
- Sport
- Newsweek
Packers Dealt Brutal Honesty About QB Jordan Love
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. After his first season as the Green Bay Packers' starting quarterback, Jordan Love was immediately talked about as a superstar. While his first year starting was impressive, he hadn't truly proven anything yet. Entering the 2024 NFL season, Love was expected to have a huge year. That did not end up happening. Love was injured in Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles. He never looked the same after the injury and had a very disappointing all-around year. As for the Packers as a team, they didn't live up to the hype either. Jordan Love #10 of the Green Bay Packers participates in warmups prior to the NFC Wild Card Playoffs against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on January 14, 2024 in Arlington, Texas. Jordan Love #10 of the Green Bay Packers participates in warmups prior to the NFC Wild Card Playoffs against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on January 14, 2024 in Arlington, Texas. Photo byHeading into the 2025 season, there is optimism that Love will bounce back strong. However, there are also concerns about what will happen if he doesn't. Read more: Packers Make Major Jaire Alexander Move One NFL analyst has spoken out with a brutal take about Love and the future for Green Bay. Henry McKenna of Fox Sports did not hold back when reviewing the contract the Packers gave to Love. "There's a good chance he'll be healthier and more consistent in 2025," McKenna wrote. "He should develop. He should evolve. He should convert more of his talent into wins. But we've seen the careers of so many talented passers go awry at this phase. There's a real chance Love continues to put the ball in harm's way — and, in turn, occasionally interfere with the Packers' playoff hopes." McKenna continued forward, revealing a conclusion to his opinion of Love. "I'm willing to give this contract more time. I'm willing to give Love more time. But I can't help but be worried about where things are headed." Throughout the 2024 season, Love played in 15 games. He completed 63.1 percent of his pass attempts for 3,389 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. It was a good year, but it was far from great. Read more: Packers May Get Final Chapter With Aaron Rodgers After All At 26 years old, Love still has plenty of time to develop. He has only been a starting NFL quarterback for two years. He's facing a lot of pressure after receiving a four-year, $220 million contract extension, but patience is key with a young quarterback. Hopefully for Green Bay, he will have his breakout season in 2025. There is no denying the talent and potential that Love possesses, but he needs to show it consistently on the field. Love and the Packers will kick off the 2025 NFL season at home with a tough matchup against the NFC North rival Detroit Lions. That game is scheduled for Sept. 7 at 4:25 p.m. ET. For more Green Bay Packers and NFL news, head over to Newsweek Sports.
