Jordan Love shares incredible experience of his Draft Day
The Jordan Love selection was one of the most surprising moments in Green Bay Packers draft history since, well, they drafted Aaron Rodgers in the first round in 2005. Getting a quarterback when Rodgers still had four years left on his old contract and entering the final stages of his Packers tenure was a controversial […]
The Jordan Love selection was one of the most surprising moments in Green Bay Packers draft history since, well, they drafted Aaron Rodgers in the first round in 2005. Getting a quarterback when Rodgers still had four years left on his old contract and entering the final stages of his Packers tenure was a controversial decision, but one that ultimately has been proven smart.
But how did Jordan Love feel? What was his experience like? After the 2023 season, his first as a starter after three years on the bench, Love went to "The Edge", Micah Parsons podcast, and talked about how it all transpired.
Pre-draft process
Sometimes, players get clues about which team might take them. Jordan Love didn't have that. He said everyone executes similar processes, and it was hard to get a sense about who really liked him.
"The whole process, you go to the Combine, you talk to every team in the Combine. They don't give you too much, they just ask you questions, ask you about yourself, ask you how you are as a player. It's all kinda similar stuff, but you don't get a feel for who likes you," Love said. "My year coming out, I knew there were certain teams that were going to be taking a quarterback. Obviously, we knew Joe Burrow, he was going to the Bengals. And it was kinda going to see what happens after that with the Dolphins and the Chargers and just go from there. But I had no idea."
Contact with Green Bay
With how the draft is a big product and impacts the lives of every person who works in the league, teams spend a lot of time and resources to scout prospects. Especially for potential first-round quarterbacks. So basically every team in the league talked to Love before the draft.
Nothing more than the usual, the Packers had contact with Love at the Combine, and then right before the draft.
"I talked to them at the Combine, I actually talked to them the night before the draft. I talked to Matt (LaFleur) and the offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett," Love recalls. "But like I said, you talk to everybody, so I couldn't get a beat on who wanted me, who was going to pick me. Nobody is showing me their hand."
Draft night
The 2020 NFL Draft was unique. That was the covid year, so everyone (team executives, players, agents, commissioner Roger Goodell) was at home. Joe Burrow went to the Cincinnati Bengals, Tua Tagovailoa went to the Miami Dolphins, Justin Herbert went to the Los Angeles Chargers.
And then everything was less clear for Jordan Love. Until he received a call.
"Draft night unfolds, and obviously Joe goes number 1 with the Bengals, Tua to Miami, J Herbo (Justin Herbert) to the Chargers, that's the teams that needed quarterbacks, that I knew needed quarterbacks. I'm like 'Ok, we are going to play the wait game, see who needs it'. Coming into it, I was like, 'I'm gonna go first round. Everything I was hearing was like 'yeah, you're going first round, you're going first round.' After those teams went, what's up," Love mentioned. "A lot of the waiting game, we were sitting there at my house, waiting. Everybody's getting taken off the board, no more quarterbacks taken. We are sitting there, out of the blue, get that call, Green Bay, Wisconsin. 'Oh, ok'. Hello, ok, Green Bay Packers, ok."
That ended up being a pretty good quarterback class. Beyond the four first-round quarterbacks (all are at least above average quarterbacks), the Philadelphia Eagles selected Jalen Hurts in the second round.
Jordan Love obviously has fewer starts so far than his counterparts, but he's done pretty well in comparison.
It was an unusual, crazy journey. But Jordan Love ended up as a Green Bay Packer. And, finally, as the Green Bay Packers starting quarterback.
What was Jordan Love’s most unforgettable play of the 2023 season?
Quarterback finished his first season as an NFL starter
