Jordan Love is, and will be, the Green Bay Packers‘ long-term answer at quarterback, but his absence to begin training camp has exposed a potentially fatal flaw in the roster.
Green Bay is a Super Bowl hopeful and one of the trendy picks to make a deep playoff run once the 2024 regular-season calendar concludes. But that assumes two things.
The first is that the team will sign Love to a long-term contract and get him back onto the practice field, effectively ending his current holdout. The second is that Love will remain healthy enough to lead the Packers to/through the postseason.
Andy Herman of Packer Report and the “Pack-A-Day Podcast” on Wednesday, July 24, suggested that it may be time for Green Bay to consider a veteran backup to guard against anything going off of the rails where Love is concerned. He specifically mentioned former Tennessee Titans signal-caller Ryan Tannehill.
“We may need to have a Ryan Tannehill conversation,” Herman posted to X. “I fully get and understand the [Indianapolis] Colts/Peyton Manning mantra of ‘we don’t practice [expletive],’ but the offense is a nightmare right now without Love. (To be fair, it’s still insanely early and these are young QBs.”
Tannehill earned Pro Bowl honors during his first campaign with the Titans in 2019, after which he led the team to the AFC Championship Game. He capitalized on that success by signing a four-year deal worth $118 million in March 2020 that expired at the end of last season.
The Titans went on to make the playoffs in each of the next two years, though never captured another postseason win with Tannehill at the helm.
Packers ‘Optimistic’ They Can Reach New Contract With QB Jordan Love
Locking Love into a multiyear deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL, if not the league’s richest player, appears to be merely a matter of time, according to a July 24 report from Dianna Russinni of The Athletic.
“I expect the Green Bay Packers and Jordan Love to strike a deal over the next few weeks of training camp, as both sides are optimistic,” Russinni reported. “Based on conversations with sources, Love’s expected to become the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL.”
Even still, the Packers have no proven option behind Love if he is forced to miss any kind of protracted stretch during the upcoming year. Herman noted that backup Sean Clifford, who has thrown just one regular-season pass in his NFL career, continues to struggle against the Green Bay defense.
“Eric Stokes with his second pick of the day. Off [of] Clifford, intended for [Christian] Watson,” Herman posted to X from the sidelines of a practice session on July 24. “Clifford’s just not seeing the field well at all right now. Nice play by 21, though.”
Ryan Tannehill Offers Green Bay Insurance, Experience as Backup QB
Also currently on the roster are rookie QB Michael Pratt, who Green Bay selected with the No. 245 overall pick in the seventh round of April’s draft, and Jacob Eason, who the Packers brought into camp on July 23.
Eason has appeared in just two games in his career, both in backup roles with the Colts and the Carolina Panthers in 2021 and 2022, respectively. He has completed 5 of his 10 pass attempts across 12 total snaps, throwing for 84 yards and 2 INTs.
Tannehill, meanwhile, is closing in on 3,100 completions on upwards of 4,800 pass attempts and has amassed almost 35,000 yards to go along with 216 TDs and 115 INTs. Spotrac projects his market value at $7.7 million in 2024.
