By the end of last season, it became clear the Green Bay Packers felt they had their next answer at quarterback.
And with that, they had to pay their quarterback.
Jordan Love had a breakout in the second half of last season and led the Packers, not just to the postseason, but to a road playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys. He was one of the hottest quarterbacks in the NFL late last season.
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So on Friday night, Love and the Packers agreed to a four-year, $220 million contract extension, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jori Epstein. The deal will make Love the highest paid quarterback in NFL history.
The Packers and Jordan Love have reached a four-year extension worth $220 million, source confirms to @YahooSports.
That’s $55 million per year for Jordan, with $155 million guaranteed and $75 million signing bonus. And Jordan will return to uniform… pic.twitter.com/a2O8ktcwvN
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) July 27, 2024
Love will also receive a $75 million signing bonus as part of the deal, the largest in NFL history. About $155 million of his deal is fully guaranteed, too.
Hours earlier Friday, the Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa reportedly reached a four-year, $212.4 million extension.
Love got the contract extension he earned during that late-season streak last fall. He and the Packers agreed to a deal. Love came to OTAs in good faith, but then sat out training camp practices as the extension was finalized.
The deal is done. Now the Packers can see how far Love can take them.
Jordan Love outperformed his deal
The Packers and Love have had an unusual path. The team took Love in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft despite having Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers went on to win two MVPs after Love was drafted, and Love waited his turn.
Finally the Packers traded Rodgers and gave Love a shot. Love’s rookie deal was running out so the Packers had to get creative on his contract, so he got a one-year extension worth up to $22.5 million and $13.5 million guaranteed. Love struggled through the first seven games of last season, then took off. Suddenly he looked like a future star and the Packers had to figure out his contract situation again.
The extension gets Love in line with rest of the NFL’s top-end starting quarterbacks. There is some risk involved considering Love still has just 18 career regular-season starts, but the Packers had to be excited about what they saw late last season.
Love coming off a big season
Through seven games last season, the Packers were 2-5. Love hadn’t played that well. Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said Love had 10 games to show he could be Green Bay’s quarterback of the future.
Love was exceptional for the last half of the season. In the Packers’ final eight regular-season games he had 16 touchdowns and one interception. The Packers rallied to make the postseason and in Green Bay’s playoff win over the Cowboys, Love had a near-perfect 157.2 passer rating. The Packers lost the next week at the San Francisco 49ers but led that game until the final two minutes.
Love still needs to follow up that great half season, but the Packers obviously aren’t worried. Love played at an elite level for half of a season, and now he’s being paid like an elite quarterback.
