Investigating The Change In Culture From Aaron Rodgers To Jordan Love
How The Packers Will Adapt To Jordan Love Taking Over
The Sideline Scoop is a newsletter dedicated to all things Packers. If you’d like to join 600+ Packers fans who receive this newsletter throughout the week feel free to subscribe. GPG
One of the most critical aspect of any team’s success is the culture that is established in the locker room. The Packers have had a winning culture over the past 30 years thanks to elite play from back to back quarterbacks, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.
Now the Packers move to young and unproven Jordan Love and I want to dig into how the team culture could be different from the past as we get closer to the 2023 season.
Yesterday AJ Dillon posted 3 photos of Jordan Love clearly having a good time with other teammates in the weight room.
Packers fans ate it up and there were more comments than I could count of people getting excited about this young new look Packers team that will be taking the field in 2023.
One thing that I hadn’t really thought too much about is the age difference between Jordan Love and Aaron Rodgers and how that could shift the way the players relate to the leader of the team.
On one hand you have Aaron Rodgers who is a hall of fame QB.
Most guys who come into the league grew up watching Rodgers. I imagine many are star struck and shocked the moment they meet Rodgers in person and realize that they will actually be playing with an NFL legend.
A future hall of fame QB is the one who sets the tone in the locker room. He’s the guy everyone looks to. If you are a young player you want to do everything you can to make that guy proud.
If we look at the Packers going into next season, there is going to be a completely different feel in the locker room. You go from Rodgers(39) who is basically the same age as Matt Lafleur(43), to Jordan Love (24) who is nearly 20 years younger than Matt Lafleur. You go from a guy who has proved everything in the league to an inexperienced player that is about to get his first chance to lead a team.
From all that I’ve seen I have every reason that Jordan Love is respected by his teammates and humbly sets an example for all to follow. He’s a hard worker dedicated to becoming great. He’s never caused any drama in his three years sitting behind Aaron Rodgers. He’s come to work for three years learning the ropes from an NFL legend.
There was lots of chatter among Packers fans over the years about Rodgers and how much he really went along with Matt Lalfeurs scheme. There’s no doubt that Matt Lafleur was the one calling the plays but Rodgers had leeway to do his own thing at times, and rightly so.
I’d want a hall of fame QB doing what he thinks is best sometimes. I am very curious to see how different this offense looks with Jordan Love who is not going to have the same leeway of doing what anything he wants. He is going to follow exactly what Matt Lafleur has planned.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing if Rodgers switched things up at times, but I’m just pointing out the difference in relationship between Qb and coach and how that could change the way the offense is run.
And I have no idea how much of the time Rodgers did his own thing. For all I know it could’ve been 3% of the time or 35% of the time. I really don’t know. I assume there was also a lot of Matt Lafleur and Aaron Rodgers going back and forth with ideas and coming to a play that they both thought was best.
The other massive change is the way Love relates with the offense vs Rodgers. Think about it. Jordan Love age wise is a peer to lots of the young players. Love is 24. Christian Watson is 23. Romeo Doubs is 23. There’s a big difference in the working relationship Waston and Doubs will have with Love compared to Rodgers. I think there are benefits to both.
With Rodgers you have more of the mentor and veteran leader who can teach the young guys. With Love you have the young guy who is in a similar position as the other players who haven’t created a name for themself the way that Aaron Rodgers already has. There’s probably a type of bond they share of wanting to prove that they can get it done at a high level in the NFL.
That’s part of why I’m really excited about what could be in Green Bay over the next 3-5 years. As Love builds chemistry with Watson and Doubs and whatever other receivers Gutey decides to bring into Green Bay, 2024 could line up to be a very big year. The first order of business is Love being a great QB.
I’m really curious about what we will be talking about exactly one year from now when it comes to the state of the Packers.
On one hand we could be pumped and incredibly excited about just how good Jordan Love is, or we could be debating if the Packers need to make a move at QB. Let’s hope for the first scenario. It’s hard to predict what the Packers will be because most of it hinges on Love. There’s a chance he’s being much more slept on among NFL fans than he should be. It’s easy to hate on a guy who hasn’t even played more than a handful of games over a few years in the NFL.
Now this might sound crazy right now but the other day I was thinking about NFC North QB’s and how I’d rank them.
It will be easier when we have a full year of Love’s play to go on, but right now I’d already put him ahead of Justin Fields. I think Fields should be better than he was last year because of all of the talent that they’ve added around him, but if right now you told me the Packers could choose Fields or Love I’d go Love.
Now when it comes to Jared Goff and Kirk Cousins it gets a little more interesting. I think Jordan Love has an upside that those guys don’t have. He’s much more athletic than both of them. Would you guys take Goff, Kirk Cousins, or Justin Fields over Love if you had the choice? You can vote in this poll.
I’d still go with Love because for all we know he could be a top 5 QB in the next few years. If he doesn’t end up being a great QB there are always mid tier QBs available in the open market.
So to sum it all up I’m intrigued to see how the change of team culture from a proven future hall of famer to an unproven young QB will shift the culture and chemistry of the Green Bay Packers.
Love already seems to be getting along great and building relationships with the guys in the locker room. The closer they get the more willing they’ll be to lay it all out on the line for eachother once the season comes around. This is going to be an exciting year. Jordan Love season is here.
-Luke Beller