Last season was the dress rehearsal for the Green Bay Packers, and new quarterback Jordan Love passed with flying colors. Not only did he lead the Packers to the playoffs, but he proved to be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
Green Bay just rewarded Love with a contract extension worth $220M over four years, with $160.3M of that guaranteed.
The Packers are committed, and it sure seems like they've pulled off a historic feat. To go from Hall-of-Famer Brett Favre to future Hall-of-Famer Aaron Rodgers to a newly minted franchise quarterback is an incredible streak of either good luck or great scouting.
It happened, though, and the Packers, because of Love, are set up to be a Super Bowl contender for the next few seasons.
They have a chance to be very good with Love thanks to a young and explosive offense and a defense that has a ton of talent and a ton of resources poured into it. So good, in fact, that Ryan Clark of ESPN believes that Love's Packers could ultimately create a greater legacy than what the team was able to do under either Rodgers or Favre.
"I believe right now with where Jordan Love and this team is positioned, the Green Bay Packers can have more success as a team with Jordan Love than they did under Brett Favre or with Aaron Rodgers. We have to remember as great as both of those players were, they only won one Super Bowl a piece. Jordan Love is going to have an opportunity to win more than one Super Bowl. Jordan Love is going to have this team in position year after year after year," Clark said on ESPN's "Get Up."
Clark pointed out that while Love was great last season with 4,159 yards and 32 touchdowns compared to 11 interceptions, it was just his first year as a starter. He still has so much room to grow in order to reach his ceiling, and the Packers have done an excellent job of putting a young and talented offense around him — now highlighted by All-Pro running back Josh Jacobs.
"As I watched him play down the stretch of the season, he was fearless, he protected the ball and he was athletic when he needed to be," Clark said.
There were draft day projections of Love being a Patrick Mahomes-like talent. Clark relayed that he didn't see them back in 2020, but that skillset is finally starting to shine through in Green Bay.
As mentioned, Favre and Rodgers only have one Super Bowl apiece. Mahomes has already won three Super Bowls and he's played in four.
Love still needs to make his first, but the Packers are certainly set up for success in this new era.
