of Green Bay Packers I was officially in love.
Jordan Love, who came off a stellar 2023 season and debuted as the Pack’s starting quarterback, tied for the title of highest-paid player in NFL history, agreeing to a four-year, $220 million extension on Friday with $155 million guaranteed, a person familiar with the deal said. Tom Silverstein of Packers News and the USA Today NetworkThe person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose financial terms of the deal.
ESPN was first to report the news.
Love became the eighth quarterback to sign a contract averaging more than $50 million per year. Cincinnati BengalsJoe Burrow and Jacksonville JaguarsTrevor Lawrence also made an average of $55 million.
Before last season, Love signed a one-year, $13.5 million contract extension, which served as a sort of compromise to prove himself given his unknown status, while also allowing the team to avoid picking up the more expensive fifth-year option on his rookie contract.
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Love was a controversial first-round draft pick out of Utah State in 2020, when Green Bay’s front office drew the ire of current QB1 Aaron Rodgers, sparking a mini-resurrection for Love and two league MVP awards. But Love proved beyond a shadow of a doubt last season that he was a worthy replacement for the traded Rodgers, furthering the Packers’ virtually unmatched lineage at the position, a lineage that also includes Hall of Famers Ernie Herber, Bart Starr and Brett Favre.
Love’s 32 touchdown passes in 2023 were second only to MVP runner-up Dak Prescott (36). More importantly, Love led a second-half surge for the Packers after they started 3-6. They won seven of their final 10 games, including the playoffs, beating Prescott’s Dallas Cowboys on the road in the wild-card round before narrowly losing to the San Francisco 49ers the following week.
Starr, Favre and Rodgers failed to lead the Packers to the postseason in their first years as starters, but they ultimately led Green Bay to a Super Bowl victory and Starr has five rings (three of which were NFL championships won just before the Super Bowl era began in 1966). And given last season’s performance and his new financial situation, Expectations for love will definitely be higher. And the Co. moves forward.
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