The Green Bay Packers and quarterback Jordan Love have reached an agreement on a four-year, $220 million contract extension, league sources said Friday. The deal also includes a record $75 million signing bonus and $155 million in new full guarantees, sources said, making Love the highest-paid NFL quarterback.
Love’s new deal puts him in line with Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow, who all make $55 million per year, as the highest-paid annual quarterbacks. Those numbers are ahead of quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa ($53.1 million per year), Jared Goff ($53 million per year), Justin Herbert ($52.5 million per year) and Lamar Jackson ($52 million per year).
The agreement also ends Love’s “hold-in” as the quarterback decided to skip practice until he had a new contract. Love reported to camp on time and will participate in other team activities outside of practice.
Love participated in all offseason activities, even without a new contract. But just before the start of training camp, the quarterback’s representative informed the Packers that he would not be practicing.
“I feel like we’re close,” Packers GM Brian Gutekunst said at the start of training camp.
GO DEEPER
Paying Jordan Love that much is a big risk, something the Packers are no strangers to when it comes to quarterbacks.
Love, 25, was entering the final year of his contract and is coming off a breakout first season in which he helped the Packers to a surprise divisional-round playoff appearance. He threw for 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 17 regular-season games.
He’s now entering his second season as the Packers’ starter after spending four years behind current New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The Packers and Love agreed to a one-year contract extension prior to last season, keeping the quarterback in Green Bay only through next year. That extension was worth $22.5 million, including $13.5 million fully guaranteed.
Why Green Bay Made This Deal
The Packers shocked the NFL when they traded up in the first round of 2020 to draft Love with four years remaining on Rodgers’ contract. Love waited three years behind Rodgers, and the long-term payoff paid off for him, Gutekunst and the organization that had faith in their new franchise quarterback.
The Packers are hoping Love can follow in the footsteps of Brett Favre and Rodgers and give them three consecutive Hall of Fame quarterbacks. But Love has a long way to go to get there after a successful first year as a starter that saw him arguably the NFL’s best quarterback in the second half of the regular season.
In his first three years in the NFL, Love started just one game, a Week 9 loss to the Chiefs in 2021 on short notice after Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19. Love struggled under Kansas City’s relentless pressure, as the Packers scored just one goal in a 13-7 loss, but Gutekunst was impressed with Love’s ability to persevere through adversity. Between three years of watching Love behind the scenes and in practice, the Packers felt confident enough to hand the reins of the offense to an unproven 24-year-old.
Their decision paid off and Green Bay appears to have struck gold once again in the form of a player who is now tied for the highest paid player in NFL history. — Matt Schneidman, Packers Editor
Required reading
(Photo: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
