4 questions facing Packers quarterbacks as Jordan Love awaits an extension (2024)

GREEN BAY — Sean Clifford can’t wait for Jordan Love’s big payday.

No, Clifford isn’t looking for the Green Bay Packers’ starting quarterback to loan him a few bucks for his fast-approaching wedding next summer.

And Clifford, the 2023 fifth-round draft pick who served as Love’s primary backup last season, isn’t hoping that Love’s lucrative long-term contract extension leads to more expensive restaurants being added to the in-season dinner rotation, either.

“That’s one of my best friends,” Clifford said during the team’s offseason program this spring.

“Getting to know Jordan, it’s been really, really cool to see him go through, honestly, struggling at the beginning — he’s one to admit it, as well — and then come out better than ever.

“And now (he’s) playing by far his best ball, which is really cool. It’s a well-earned decision that (the Packers) are going to make.”

With Love’s contract situation atop the list, here are the four biggest issues, questions or storylines at the quarterback position heading into training camp, which kicks off with the team’s first full-squad practice July 22.

How will Jordan Love handle the pressures of a new contract if he gets one?

No one is more aware of just how much more Love has left to accomplish than Love himself. After his three-year apprenticeship behind Aaron Rodgers, Love’s first year as a starter began with inconsistency — that’s putting it politely — and ended with him arguably playing the best football of any quarterback in the league down the stretch.

And so, despite his astronomical second-half numbers — over his final eight regular-season games and two postseason starts, Love completed 69.8% of his passes for 2,616 yards with 23 touchdowns and three interceptions for a 112.1 passer rating — Love’s even-keeled personality surely won’t allow him to become complacent after a taste of success and a giant payday.

If anything, Love’s conscientious nature could make him feel the pressure of justifying such a life-changing contract.

Regardless, the final number figures to be massive in the wake of extensions for Detroit’s Jared Goff (four years, $212 million, $170 million guaranteed, $53 million annual average) and Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence (five years, $275 million, $142 million guaranteed, $55 million annual average) earlier in the offseason.

Both sides said their hope is the same: To get a deal done before the first practice of camp. And while that seems likely to happen, no one can say for certain that it will.

But whenever it happens, Love insists he won’t change.

“I think that’s the mentality everybody has to have, whether you’re a proven guy or a rookie. You’ve got to be able to have confidence in yourself because, I mean, it starts with you,” Love said. “(But) also, never having that mindset of being complacent or thinking you made it. Always trying to have a positive mindset and trying to work to get better.

“That’s the big thing for me, just never being complacent. Just staying confident in yourself and true to yourself.”

What’s Jordan Love’s biggest challenge in second season as starter?

When Love ascended to the starting job following the April 2023 trade that sent Rodgers to the New York Jets, there was precious little meaningful film for opposing defensive coordinators to study in their game-planning for him: One 2021 regular-season start in a loss at Kansas City, and not-exactly-valuable preseason action.

Now, after Love’s 17 regular-season starts and two postseason performances, those opponents have a much better idea of his strengths and weaknesses. And you can bet teams are scouring that film for how to attack Love, with the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 6 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, being the first team to get a crack at him.

“I feel like that’s always the challenge in football. Teams, they spend the whole offseason scouting,” Love said following the Packers’ first open-to-reporters organized team activity practice of the offseason. “That’s their job, is to try to figure out how to stop that.

“We know going into this year, teams are going to have a better feel of what we do, what we did well.”

What did Jordan Love learn from season-ending interception?

Several times during the offseason, Love was asked about his final pass in the team’s NFC divisional playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers — an across his body, late, over-the-middle, into triple coverage heave that was intercepted by linebacker Dre Greenlaw to seal the defeat.

“I think that’s something that’s just always in the back of your mind, the way you end the season. It’s something you’ve always got to think about,” Love said. “Obviously you move (on), you grow, you learn from that game, but at the same time, I think it’s something that’s just always in the back. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and I think we’re all ready to get back on the field after losing that game.”

The Packers were trailing 24-21 with 52 seconds left in regulation when Love made that fateful first-down throw, the kind of mistake that he’d seemingly already outgrown with his play during the second half of the season.

He failed to do so in early season losses at Atlanta, Las Vegas, Denver and Pittsburgh with the game on the line late in those defeats.

But he did lead a 17-point fourth-quarter comeback in an 18-17 win over the New Orleans Saints at Lambeau Field in September, capping the rally with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Romeo Doubs with 2:56 to play.

He also threw a 24-yard go-ahead touchdown pass to Doubs with 2:33 to play in a 23-20 win over the Los Angeles Chargers in November.

And he directed a nine-play, 61-yard drive for the game-winning field goal with 19 seconds left in a 33-30 win at Carolina after the Packers blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead on Christmas Eve.

“Early on, we were in a couple of those situations where we didn’t get it done. For us to see the growth (has been impressive),” coach Matt LaFleur said. “I’ve said it many times: It’s not just him. It’s the collective. It’s all the guys out there making plays for him, him making better throws, better decisions, getting us in the right looks.”

If Jordan Love gets hurt, can the Packers win with Sean Clifford?

Love started all 17 regular-season games last season and both playoff contests. He was one of only nine QBs league-wide to not miss a start.

Meanwhile, 66 quarterbacks started at least one game last season — including one who started games for two different teams. That was a slight downtick from the previous year, when 68 quarterbacks started at least one game.

“Obviously, J-Love is our leader. He’s one of, if not the best, quarterback in the league right now,” Clifford said. “It’s cool to watch because you just see him making those steps and it’s like, ‘OK, where can I find mine, as well?’”

Clifford had his ups and downs during the offseason program, but it’s hard to image Pratt overtaking him in training camp. More likely, Pratt spends the year as the No. 3 quarterback and mounts a greater challenge to Clifford in 2025.

“I think (Clifford) is a self-starter. He’s got that intrinsic motivation,” Lafluer said. “So I don’t think whether we drafted Pratt or not it was going to change his mindset.

“The more competition you have, I do think it can bring out the best in you. But in terms of the mindset, the way he attacked it, I mean, I saw him all last season, he attacked it as if he were the starter. I would expect nothing less from him and I don’t think his mindset has changed at all.”